Manitou Investment Management Ltd. Purchases New Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Manitou Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000. Wells Fargo & Company makes up 0.0% of Manitou Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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 raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,105,218,000 after purchasing an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350,605 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,411,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $198,801,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WFC. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company 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 $76.40 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $70.50 and a 200 day moving average of $72.96. 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 stock has a market cap of $248.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 28.73%.

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.