Chou Associates Management Inc. Takes $4.92 Million Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Chou Associates Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 59,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,921,000. Wells Fargo & Company makes up about 2.3% of Chou Associates Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,512,563,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth about $1,364,923,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth about $859,431,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $729,502,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $620,861,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $93.50 to $95.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $105.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.1%

WFC stock opened at $84.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.79. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $72.78 and a 12 month high of $97.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $256.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.92.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $22.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.86 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.55% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

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

Wells Fargo & 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.