MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 43,398 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 886,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 43,398 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $50,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 20.8% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 88,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,103,000 after acquiring an additional 15,139 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Rokos Capital Management LLP raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 141.6% during the first quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 2,620,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,853,000 after buying an additional 1,536,152 shares during the last quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% during the first quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 15,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the first quarter worth about $201,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Beurden Saul Van sold 35,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total transaction of $2,169,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 126,687 shares in the company, valued at $7,853,327.13. This trade represents a 21.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total value of $3,822,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 163,610 shares in the company, valued at $10,421,957. This represents a 26.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC traded up $0.34 on Wednesday, hitting $77.69. 299,206 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,065,939. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $42.79 and a 12 month high of $78.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $258.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.07, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.01.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.14. The company 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 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 33.26%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.