Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 585.5% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Motco boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 397.6% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 112.9% during the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $80.63 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $258.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $55.98 and a 1 year high of $86.65.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%.The business had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial lowered Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.74.

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.