Apriem Advisors Takes $203,000 Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Apriem Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $76.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $255.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $50.15 and a 12-month high of $81.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.57.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.74%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.