Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Bought by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 678,114 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 243,062 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $40,273,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,972 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 26,467 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,246,000 after acquiring an additional 12,778 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 56,875 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,799,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,677,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 107,249 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,279,000 after acquiring an additional 9,343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock traded down $0.97 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $54.14. 10,871,926 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,119,740. The stock has a market cap of $188.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $56.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.88. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $38.38 and a 12-month high of $62.55. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business had revenue of $20.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. Wells Fargo & Company's payout ratio is 32.85%.

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.