Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Purchased by Scratch Capital LLC

Scratch Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 255.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,299 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,000 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company makes up 1.1% of Scratch Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Scratch Capital LLC's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $3,365,658,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,105,218,000 after purchasing an additional 14,210,193 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $243,589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350,605 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,411,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,855 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $198,801,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.68.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:WFC traded down $1.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $72.31. The stock had a trading volume of 21,164,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,503,719. The stock has a market capitalization of $235.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.90. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $50.15 and a 52 week high of $81.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $20.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. Wells Fargo & Company's quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.