AIA Group Ltd Acquires 44,692 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 177.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,692 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $4,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WFC. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 137,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,984,000 after acquiring an additional 4,335 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 36.3% during the first quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 101,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,858,000 after acquiring an additional 26,895 shares during the period. Cohen Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 32.3% during the first quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 41,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 7.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 52,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,028,000 after acquiring an additional 3,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. HSBC lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.52.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 6.0 %

Wells Fargo & Company stock traded down $3.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $56.54. 52,886,661 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,430,355. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.48 and a 200 day moving average of $55.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $197.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.17. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $38.38 and a 12-month high of $62.55.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $20.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.29 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & 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.