Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 387 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 93.3% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 26,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after acquiring an additional 12,778 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 128,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,343,000 after acquiring an additional 6,886 shares during the period. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:WFC traded down $2.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $54.00. The stock had a trading volume of 21,853,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,798,791. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.88. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $38.38 and a 52 week high of $62.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The company had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.