Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Purchased by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 82.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,253,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,016,648 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.07% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $158,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $3,365,658,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased 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 buying an additional 575,892 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,464,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $389,707,000 after acquiring an additional 352,821 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,138,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,710,000 after acquiring an additional 104,136 shares during the period. Finally, Korea Investment CORP increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 3,286,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $230,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WFC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America decreased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.55.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $62.11 on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The stock has a market cap of $202.81 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.