Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Purchased by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 335,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,481 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $18,953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs now owns 7,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 5,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV now owns 15,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $873,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.24.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $61.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $38.58 and a 1-year high of $62.55. The stock has a market cap of $215.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $55.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.79.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $20.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.40 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.17%. The business’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. 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 2.58%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.85%.

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.