WASHINGTON TRUST Co Reduces Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co lowered its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,028 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 106.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 48,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,725,000 after acquiring an additional 24,911 shares during the last quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $452,000. Hengehold Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $260,000. Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.7% during the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 11,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $666,000 after buying an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 59,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.1 %

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $79.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $48.62 and a twelve month high of $81.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.96.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.