Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Grows Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 12.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 808 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WFC. Fruth Investment Management grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Fruth Investment Management now owns 6,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 10,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 4,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Argus upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $62.00 price target (up from $56.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Thirteen equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 0.8 %

WFC traded down $0.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.32. The company had a trading volume of 18,007,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,055,352. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $36.40 and a 12-month high of $61.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $210.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.97.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.23%.

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.