Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd Makes New Investment in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Taikang Asset Management Hong Kong Co Ltd bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 61,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,431,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WFC. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 66,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 25,436 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,068,000. Capital Analysts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 3,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 50,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 6,099 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $501,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WFC. Raymond James Financial lowered Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Dbs Bank upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.58.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.6%

WFC opened at $79.0680 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $253.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $50.22 and a one year high of $84.83.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%.Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.82%.

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.