1,009,085 Shares in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Purchased by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,009,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $70,999,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 441,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 16.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after buying an additional 3,155 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth about $10,451,000. Finally, Voya Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the third quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 38,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 7.2 %

WFC opened at $60.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.44. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.15 and a 1-year high of $81.50. 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 (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $79.00 price target on Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.50.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.