Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Stock Holdings Cut by SNS Financial Group LLC

SNS Financial Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 729 shares during the period. SNS Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth $160,529,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,069,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,716 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $383,532,000 after acquiring an additional 897,195 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $80.38 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week high of $81.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $267.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WFC shares. Compass Point raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.