Catalina Capital Group LLC Invests $444,000 in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Catalina Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fruth Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Fruth Investment Management now owns 6,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Lazari Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 10,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 4,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. HSBC raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price objective (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Argus raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Compass Point reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.36.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of WFC traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $59.70. 12,092,711 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,178,027. The company has a market cap of $208.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $59.54 and its 200-day moving average is $55.67. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $38.38 and a 52 week high of $62.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 29.23%.

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.