Empirical Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 229.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 62,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,650 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $4,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Income Research & Management purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WFC. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.17.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $75.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $252.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $72.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.24. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $46.12 and a 52 week high of $78.13.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.26%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.