Madison Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 41,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,921,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WFC. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth $132,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.4% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 85,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,840,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 33.6% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 135,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,658,000 after buying an additional 34,068 shares in the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 13.9% during the third quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 4,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth $471,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $72.51 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $50.15 and a 52-week high of $81.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $75.95 and a 200-day moving average of $69.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.