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

Beacon Financial Group reduced its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,011 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company makes up approximately 0.7% of Beacon Financial Group’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Beacon Financial Group’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $6,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Spinnaker Trust lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 7,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 7,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WFC. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.48.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $75.43 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $50.15 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $245.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.94.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

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

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.