Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Shares Sold by Equitable Trust Co.

Equitable Trust Co. lowered its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 71.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,740 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 472.4% in the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kleber Santos sold 25,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.72, for a total transaction of $2,193,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 79,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,006,722.72. The trade was a 23.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WFC shares. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. CICC Research initiated coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Evercore lowered their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $102.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.03.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock opened at $85.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $267.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.90. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $58.42 and a 1 year high of $97.76. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.32.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.10. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.27%.The firm had revenue of $11.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 28.71%.

Key Wells Fargo & Company News

Here are the key news stories impacting Wells Fargo & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo hired a $3.1 billion advisory team from J.P. Morgan, a move that can immediately boost investment-banking revenue and client relationships if the team brings mandates and fees. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: The bank named Dennis Devine as head of Business Banking (serving firms up to $25M in sales); leadership hires can improve execution and client retention in a strategic segment for fee and deposit growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo research is active: analysts upgraded Alphabet/Google and reiterated/raised views on other tech names (CoreWeave) and raised outlooks on coverage names — this highlights an active research franchise but has limited direct near-term impact on WFC’s fundamentals beyond trading and research revenue. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: The firm’s analyst notes on growth-tech and healthcare (e.g., CoreWeave, Cardinal Health) signal continued investment-banking and research activity, which supports noninterest income but is incremental and timing-dependent. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Negative publicity and potential operational/regulatory risk from a widely reported fraud case: a 90‑year‑old customer lost $814K and Wells Fargo denies the claim — such incidents raise reputational, compliance and possible litigation concerns. Read More.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.