Aviance Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $533,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. raised 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 purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 4,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 6,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WFC traded up $0.64 during trading on Monday, reaching $60.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,985,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,435,035. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.15. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.38 and a fifty-two week high of $62.55.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WFC. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. HSBC raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.15.

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.