Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Shares Bought by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 55.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,065 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WFC. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,660,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,989,104,000 after buying an additional 5,584,930 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,638,000. M&G PLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 320.3% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 2,946,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,487,000 after buying an additional 2,245,307 shares during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $173,651,000. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $147,165,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $113.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $91.00 to $86.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.53.

Key Stories Impacting Wells Fargo & Company

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

• Positive Sentiment: CEO Charlie Scharf said Wells Fargo expects investment banking and trading revenue to rise by mid-teen percentages in the second quarter, which could support fee income and help offset weakness elsewhere. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: At a Bernstein conference, Wells Fargo highlighted improving momentum in key businesses, reinforcing the case that ongoing operating improvements and a possible easing of regulatory constraints could support the stock over time. Seeking Alpha transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is also benefiting indirectly from a broader banking backdrop in which excess cash in funding markets is boosting balance-sheet capacity at large banks, though this is more of an industry tailwind than a Wells Fargo-specific catalyst. Yahoo Finance/Bloomberg article
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo warned that the recent small-cap rally may be masking weakening earnings estimates, low profitability and rising debt, a message that points to a more fragile market backdrop and may weigh on sentiment toward financials. MarketWatch article
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage also noted that WFC shares have been sliding year to date, reflecting investor concerns about the pace of recovery despite long-term support from digital growth, NII improvement and potential regulatory relief. Zacks article

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE:WFC opened at $76.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $234.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.96. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $71.93 and a 1-year high of $97.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.85 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 27.78%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.