Leuthold Group LLC Makes New Investment in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Leuthold Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 64,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,520,000 after purchasing an additional 21,500 shares during the period. Grove Street Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $265,000. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 1,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 6,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $434,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $77.43 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio 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.