Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Shares Purchased by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Key Points

• Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in Wells Fargo by 24.7% in Q1, owning 359,046 shares valued at $25.78 million.
• Wells Fargo recently reported earnings of $1.54 per share, exceeding analyst estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.45 per share.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of $81.58 for Wells Fargo, with multiple firms issuing new ratings and price upgrades.

Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 24.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 359,046 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 71,038 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $25,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,497,429 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,471,259,000 after buying an additional 128,207 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,740,934 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $771,092,000 after buying an additional 7,894,919 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 6.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,953,009 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $640,616,000 after buying an additional 523,107 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.0% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,009,440 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $431,418,000 after buying an additional 544,473 shares during the period. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 4,980,243 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $349,812,000 after buying an additional 976,112 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:WFC opened at $81.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.20. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.22 and a 1-year high of $84.83. The company's fifty day moving average is $79.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The firm's revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 29th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.58.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WFC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.