PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. Takes Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 40,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,205,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% in the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,095,550,000 after purchasing an additional 949,735,001 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,740,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $771,092,000 after purchasing an additional 7,894,919 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the first quarter worth $109,643,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 34.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,307,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $381,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,365,629 shares during the period. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 437.6% in the second quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 1,312,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $105,120,000 after buying an additional 1,068,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on WFC. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Cfra Research raised Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.57.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $86.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.25 and its 200 day moving average is $79.27. The stock has a market cap of $270.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.22. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $58.42 and a 1-year high of $88.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.11. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 17.18%.The business had revenue of $21.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 29.61%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

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.