Alerus Financial NA Has $6.92 Million Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Alerus Financial NA cut its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 98,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 40,247 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $6,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WFC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $3,365,658,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,983,000 after acquiring an additional 575,892 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake 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 valued at $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,464,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $389,707,000 after purchasing an additional 352,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 3,286,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $230,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150,443 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $72.33 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on WFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.18.

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.