4. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)
Dividend Yield as of May 13: 2.35%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 94
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) operates as a diversified financial services company, specializing in banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) reported Q1 earnings per share of $0.88 on April 14, outperforming market estimates by $0.07.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) declared on April 26 a $0.25 per share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. The dividend is distributable on June 1, to shareholders of the company as of May 6. On May 13, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) delivered a dividend yield of 2.35%.
On April 18, Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg reiterated an Overweight rating on Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) and raised the firm’s price target on the stock to $64 from $62 after the Q1 results were posted. According to the analyst, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) increased its 2022 net interest income and loan growth outlook, while maintaining its expense forecast despite Q1 coming in higher than expected.
According to Insider Monkey’s Q4 data, 94 hedge funds reported owning stakes in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC), compared to 88 funds in the last quarter. In the first quarter of 2022, Pzena Investment Management was a notable shareholder of the company, who reported owning 9.2 million shares worth $857 million.
Here is what Davis Opportunity Fund has to say about Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“The absolute level of revenues and profits generated by such companies is in fact so large that most of the major financial holdings in the portfolio produce enough annual operating income individually that a number of them could, in theory, purchase several entire businesses among hundreds of choices within the S&P 1500 Index, using just a year’s cash earnings without dipping into capital. This is theoretical, as financial companies would not be in the business of buying healthcare or technology companies, for example, but we point out these facts to illustrate the sheer scale of the economics produced by single financial companies in a given year, which is often a multiple of the cash earnings yielded by companies in a host of other industries.
Given this cash-generation power, we are naturally drawn to what we believe are strong and profitable financial institutions when the price is right. Presently, we believe the valuations of our financial holdings are not only reasonable, but extremely compelling, and our portfolio composition reflects this view. Representative financial holdings in the Fund include Wells Fargo.”
