Arista Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Arista Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 53.7% in the 2nd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 704.3% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Twelve investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE WFC opened at $56.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.88. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $38.38 and a one year high of $62.55. The firm has a market cap of $196.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.17%. The company had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 32.85%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.