Commerce Bank Buys New Shares in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Commerce Bank bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 418,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,549,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. CFO4Life Group LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $670,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth about $17,429,000. Fortress Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth about $517,000. Evolve Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth about $1,142,000. Finally, Martin & Co. Inc. TN acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth about $1,846,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $93.50 to $95.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Friday, July 17th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.1%

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $84.82 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $86.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $256.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.92. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $72.78 and a 52 week high of $97.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.23. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 17.55%.The company had revenue of $22.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.07%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

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.