LVW Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

LVW Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 418 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,922,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,618,000 after acquiring an additional 5,574 shares during the last quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 17,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $852,000 after acquiring an additional 7,068 shares during the last quarter. Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 39,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Winslow Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,432 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WFC. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective 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. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.65.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $60.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $212.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $55.39 and its 200 day moving average is $57.78. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $38.58 and a 1 year high of $62.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results 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. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.85%.

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.