Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by QV Investors Inc.

QV Investors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $2,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at $34,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wells Fargo & Company

In other news, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares in the company, valued at $10,421,957. This trade represents a 26.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.92.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WFC traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $70.11. 4,630,124 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,707,517. The stock has a market capitalization of $233.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.97. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $46.12 and a twelve month high of $78.13.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.40 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.26%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

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.