Capital International Sarl Has $3.18 Million Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Capital International Sarl raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 34.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 54,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,136 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 13.0% in the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Fruth Investment Management grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the first quarter. Fruth Investment Management now owns 6,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Lazari Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the first quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 10,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 6,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 target price (down previously from $70.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.31.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $60.39. 12,538,168 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,276,799. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.17. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $38.38 and a one year high of $62.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.29 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.17%. The business’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 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 Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 32.85%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.