Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $1.02 Million Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 16.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,389 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,623,044,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 26,319,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,295,459,000 after purchasing an additional 263,176 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 25,218,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,241,231,000 after purchasing an additional 781,772 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,237,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,143,770,000 after purchasing an additional 526,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,941,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $932,352,000 after purchasing an additional 596,521 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.99.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of WFC stock opened at $58.10 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.17. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $38.38 and a twelve month high of $62.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.74.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.