Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Purchases 100,500 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 706,064 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 100,500 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.'s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $49,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 693,384 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,169,000 after acquiring an additional 28,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 11,963 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Phillip Securities upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Compass Point raised 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of WFC stock opened at $78.81 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $262.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $47.45 and a 12-month high of $79.29.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WFC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.