Wells Fargo & Company Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:WFC)

Key Points

• Quarterly dividend: Wells Fargo declared a $0.45 quarterly dividend (record May 8, payable June 1), implying a $1.80 annual payout and a ~2.2% yield; the firm has raised its dividend annually for four years and carries a payout ratio of ~27.1%, indicating solid coverage.
• Quarterly results: Wells Fargo reported Q1 EPS of $1.60 (beat estimates by $0.02) on $21.45 billion of revenue (slightly below expectations), with revenue up 6.4% year-over-year and analysts forecasting about $7.75 EPS next year.
• Insider and institutional activity: Insiders sold 115,000 shares (~$10.05M) in the past 90 days while institutional investors own roughly 75.9% of the stock and corporate insiders hold about 0.14%.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 1st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th.

Wells Fargo & Company has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Wells Fargo & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 27.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Wells Fargo & Company to earn $7.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.2%.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.1%

WFC traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $81.43. 14,826,112 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,280,098. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $81.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $68.95 and a 52-week high of $97.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $251.27 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.06.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.02. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 17.26%.The company had revenue of $21.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.39 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company's revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wells Fargo & Company

In other Wells Fargo & Company news, EVP Ellen R. Patterson sold 60,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.40, for a total transaction of $5,244,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 169,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,813,950.40. The trade was a 26.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kleber Santos sold 25,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.72, for a total value of $2,193,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 79,876 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,006,722.72. This trade represents a 23.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 115,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,050,000 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 6,170 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 13,812 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,029 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,196,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 6,190 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $493,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.

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