River Global Investors LLP Trims Stock Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

River Global Investors LLP decreased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 68.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,862 shares during the period. River Global Investors LLP’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $153,069,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,716 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,679 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 81.6% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,981,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $111,914,000 after acquiring an additional 889,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,962,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $137,832,000 after acquiring an additional 758,893 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:WFC opened at $71.01 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.10 and a 200 day moving average of $68.50. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $50.15 and a 52 week high of $81.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $233.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.