1,666,084 Shares in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Acquired by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,666,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $117,026,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in 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. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Compass Point boosted their price objective 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 raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.18.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 1.6 %

WFC stock opened at $72.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.80. The company has a market cap of $236.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

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.