Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Has $1.71 Million Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,086 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WFC. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,369,000 after purchasing an additional 30,510 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $583,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. NatWest Group plc boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 57.7% in the 4th quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 172,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,115,000 after buying an additional 63,102 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at $10,451,000. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $1,656,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WFC. Barclays lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.97.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $70.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $230.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.84 and a 200-day moving average of $70.14. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $50.15 and a one 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.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

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.