Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Decreases Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership decreased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 80.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,012,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,043,028 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $352,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:WFC opened at $70.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.03. 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 stock has a market cap of $230.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its 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 return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WFC. Compass Point upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.97.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

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.