Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Shares Purchased by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 51.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Management Partners LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 3,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.8% in the second quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.7% in the second quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors now owns 3,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Vivid Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.8% in the second quarter. Vivid Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,381,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lynch & Associates IN grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the second quarter. Lynch & Associates IN now owns 6,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WFC. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group decreased 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 note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $87.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.41.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:WFC opened at $77.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $80.63 and its 200-day moving average is $76.51. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $58.42 and a 52-week high of $86.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 30.82%.

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.