SFE Investment Counsel Purchases Shares of 3,399 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

SFE Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. National Pension Service raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 897,195 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,641,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,183,000 after purchasing an additional 162,066 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,983,000 after purchasing an additional 575,892 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in 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 valued at $336,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,237,500 shares during the period. Finally, Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at $160,529,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. UBS Group lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. 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, January 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $79.22 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $47.59 and a one year high of $81.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.87. The company has a market capitalization of $263.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.