Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Acquired by Winch Advisory Services LLC

Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $383,532,000 after purchasing an additional 897,195 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,641,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,183,000 after buying an additional 162,066 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,983,000 after acquiring an additional 575,892 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $160,529,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Phillip Securities raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.92.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 6.6 %

WFC stock opened at $75.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.15. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $46.12 and a 52 week high of $78.13. The company has a market cap of $252.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.26%.

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.