Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV Buys Shares of 27,875 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 27,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,958,000. Wells Fargo & Company comprises approximately 1.8% of Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $3,365,658,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in 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 worth $336,375,000 after buying an additional 5,237,500 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $117,026,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $85,031,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 3,286,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $230,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE:WFC traded down $5.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $66.87. 13,140,653 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,093,658. The company has a market cap of $218.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $75.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.43. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Compass Point upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.55.

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.