Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,178 shares during the quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WFC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,411,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,855 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,369,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,430,742,000 after acquiring an additional 238,131 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,105,218,000 after acquiring an additional 14,210,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,914,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $977,338,000 after acquiring an additional 62,099 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WFC shares. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 research note on Thursday, January 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE WFC opened at $72.44 on Monday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.22. The firm has a market cap of $235.73 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $20.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.