American Trust Invests $217,000 in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

American Trust purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Slagle Financial LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 138,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,822,000 after acquiring an additional 68,356 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.4% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 35,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.2% during the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 38,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after buying an additional 1,911 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 152,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,805,000 after buying an additional 21,496 shares during the period. Finally, G2 Capital Management LLC OH purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $278,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 6.4 %

Shares of WFC traded down $3.62 on Friday, hitting $53.26. 27,642,566 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,512,784. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $38.38 and a one year high of $62.55. The company has a market capitalization of $185.68 billion, a PE ratio of 10.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.88.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business had revenue of $20.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 28.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on WFC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Compass Point reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.91.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

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.