Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by Marathon Asset Management Ltd

Marathon Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 167,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,987 shares during the period. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $11,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WFC. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WFC. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

WFC opened at $78.35 on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.15 and a 1-year high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.96. The stock has a market cap of $257.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.