Peoples Financial Services CORP. Lowers Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Peoples Financial Services CORP. trimmed its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WFC. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 53.7% in the second quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 704.3% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the period. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Wells Fargo & Company

In other Wells Fargo & Company news, EVP Beurden Saul Van sold 35,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total value of $2,169,650.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 126,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,853,327.13. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WFC shares. Phillip Securities raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.82.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC traded up $1.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $64.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,459,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,003,758. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $38.58 and a 52 week high of $64.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $55.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.86. The stock has a market cap of $223.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.14. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.17%. The business had revenue of $20.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.85%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.