Moody National Bank Trust Division Reduces Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Moody National Bank Trust Division trimmed its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 45,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,472 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 163,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,410,000 after buying an additional 2,608 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 17,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $1,522,000. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 721,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,692,000 after purchasing an additional 28,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 696.4% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 108,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,622,000 after buying an additional 94,886 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares in the company, valued at $10,421,957. The trade was a 26.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.92.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $70.04. 5,053,355 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,767,382. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $46.12 and a one year high of $78.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $72.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.97. The company has a market cap of $233.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.40 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 33.26%.

Wells Fargo & 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.