Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,508,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 352,288 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $527,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Income Research & Management bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE:WFC opened at $81.45 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $73.72 and its 200 day moving average is $65.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $47.45 and a 12 month high of $81.50. The company has a market capitalization of $271.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 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 (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 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 firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

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.