Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 52,441 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lowered its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 739,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 52,441 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $43,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 53.7% during the second quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WFC shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 5.0 %

WFC traded down $2.86 during trading on Friday, hitting $54.00. 21,853,782 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,798,791. The stock has a market cap of $188.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.93. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.38 and a fifty-two week high of $62.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.29 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.85%.

Wells Fargo & 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.