Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 6,476,780 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Primecap Management Co. CA decreased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,539,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,476,780 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company makes up 1.4% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,793,872,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $275,000. Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 16,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,173 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $513,000. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,764,000. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 47.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 16,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 5,368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WFC shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Ten equities research 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.com, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE WFC opened at $70.88 on Tuesday. 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 1-year low of $50.15 and a 1-year high of $81.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.87 and a 200-day moving average of $69.11. The company has a market cap of $233.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16.

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 company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.74%.

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.