Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by Monte Financial Group LLC

Monte Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 11.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 108,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,629 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company makes up approximately 3.2% of Monte Financial Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Monte Financial Group LLC's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $7,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,365,658,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,105,218,000 after buying an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $243,589,000 after buying an additional 3,350,605 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,411,992,000 after buying an additional 3,307,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $198,801,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $83.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.98.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:WFC opened at $75.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $245.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.16. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $72.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.87. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 16.19%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.

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