Yacktman Asset Management LP Sells 35,710 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Yacktman Asset Management LP cut its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,505,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 35,710 shares during the period. Yacktman Asset Management LP owned 0.07% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $148,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 180.4% in the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WFC. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.41.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:WFC traded down $1.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $56.79. 5,927,027 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,702,789. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.38 and a fifty-two week high of $62.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.68, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.88.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.29 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

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.