Sapient Capital LLC Sells 145,872 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Sapient Capital LLC lowered its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 43.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 145,872 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $14,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 532,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,610,000 after purchasing an additional 84,902 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 350,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,673,000 after buying an additional 14,168 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 412,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,446,000 after buying an additional 17,302 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,512,563,000. Finally, Winning Points Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,384,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $93.50 to $95.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:WFC opened at $86.60 on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $72.78 and a one year high of $97.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $261.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.23. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 17.55%.The company had revenue of $22.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 26.16%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.