Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Acquired by Eagle Asset Management Inc.

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,411 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $9,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Investors Research Corp raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 13,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.6% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 252,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,257,000 after buying an additional 4,061 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $471,000. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 4,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 33.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 135,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,658,000 after buying an additional 34,068 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wells Fargo & Company news, EVP Beurden Saul Van sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total transaction of $2,169,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 126,687 shares in the company, valued at $7,853,327.13. This represents a 21.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares in the company, valued at $10,421,957. This represents a 26.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $75.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.28 and a 200 day moving average of $59.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.14. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $42.52 and a fifty-two week high of $76.08.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.40 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.26%.

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.