Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 12,801 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lowered its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 793,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,801 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $55,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 52,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,693,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the third quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 13,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 4,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Income Research & Management bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $61.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.92.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE WFC traded down $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $75.77. 1,729,404 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,421,380. The company has a market cap of $252.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.12 and a fifty-two week high of $78.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $72.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.15.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. Research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 33.26%.

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.