Foster & Motley Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Foster & Motley Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 38.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,991 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Field & Main Bank grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 8,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 8,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 792 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2,510.3% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 91,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,430,000 after purchasing an additional 88,036 shares during the period. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $264,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WFC. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:WFC opened at $78.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $262.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.58. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $47.45 and a twelve month high of $79.29.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

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.