Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC Takes Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,473 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Income Research & Management acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $211,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WFC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "neutral" rating to an "accumulate" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

WFC stock traded down $1.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $78.95. 8,596,950 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,958,968. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $47.59 and a twelve month high of $81.50. The company has a market capitalization of $262.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.