Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Raises Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company comprises about 1.8% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $2,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 66,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 25,436 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the first quarter valued at approximately $205,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 15,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after buying an additional 2,293 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 6,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WFC. Bank of America boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.97.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock opened at $85.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $80.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $54.40 and a 12 month high of $86.65. The firm has a market cap of $272.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.82%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

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.