Virtue Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Virtue Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 6,656 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,369,000 after purchasing an additional 30,510 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. NatWest Group plc raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 57.7% in the fourth quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 172,484 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,115,000 after purchasing an additional 63,102 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $1,656,000. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,562 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on WFC shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $75.73.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.62. 17,037,870 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,441,691. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.90. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.15 and a 1-year high of $81.50. The company has a market cap of $242.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.