Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 233,903 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,222 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems' holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $16,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $78.69 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $75.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.73. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $50.15 and a 52 week high of $81.50. The company has a market capitalization of $262.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is 29.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Compass Point boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & 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.

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