Madison Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 10,950 Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 25,436 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 22,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,615 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 111.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 14,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 7,368 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.4% in the second quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 3,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 51.2% during the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,718 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,044,000 after buying an additional 8,714 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $93.50 to $95.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $83.83 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $253.50 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.92. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $72.78 and a 1 year high of $97.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.23. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.55% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $22.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.07%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.