West Branch Capital LLC Acquires 868 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

West Branch Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 53.7% in the 2nd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 704.3% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WFC shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of 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. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.82.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.36. The stock had a trading volume of 19,234,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,069,352. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $38.58 and a 52 week high of $64.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $224.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.00.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.14. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The firm had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.40 dividend. 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 yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wells Fargo & Company

In related news, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,421,957. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Beurden Saul Van sold 35,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total transaction of $2,169,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 126,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,853,327.13. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares in the company, valued at $10,421,957. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

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.