Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 17.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,526 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WFC shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Phillip Securities raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.49.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $70.80 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $68.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.04. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $46.12 and a 12-month high of $78.13. 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 stock has a market cap of $235.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.14. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. The company had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.26%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.