WASHINGTON TRUST Co Decreases Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co decreased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,028 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $160,529,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 1,659,716 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,105,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% during 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 in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on 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. 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 research note on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $79.68 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $48.62 and a 12-month high of $81.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.96. The company has a market capitalization of $265.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced 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%. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. Analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.