Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Acquired by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WFC. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,641,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,183,000 after acquiring an additional 162,066 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $441,983,000 after acquiring an additional 575,892 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,659,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,981,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,914,000 after acquiring an additional 889,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on WFC. Compass Point upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WFC opened at $74.20 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $50.15 and a 52 week high of $81.50. The company has a market cap of $243.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.28.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.