Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC

Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,824 shares during the period. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $336,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,237,500 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $160,529,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,069,000 after buying an additional 1,659,716 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,567,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% in the third 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 during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $81.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $47.45 and a 1-year high of $81.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.72 and a 200-day moving average of $65.16. The company has a market capitalization of $271.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for 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%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & 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.