Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Trims Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lowered its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 31.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,085,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,364,299 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned 0.15% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $357,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WFC. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 7.5 %

Shares of WFC stock traded down $5.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $66.87. 13,140,653 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,093,658. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $50.15 and a 12-month high of $81.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $218.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.43.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WFC. Barclays upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.55.

Wells Fargo & 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.