Patten & Patten Inc. TN Boosts Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Compass Point reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.31.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $59.17. 13,637,760 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,452,313. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $38.38 and a 12-month high of $62.55. The company has a market capitalization of $206.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The firm had revenue of $20.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.75%.

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.