Howard Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,375,000 after buying an additional 5,237,500 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $160,529,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,069,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,716 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $383,532,000 after purchasing an additional 897,195 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WFC. Citigroup raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 1.5 %

WFC opened at $77.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month high of $81.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors 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 2.07%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.