Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 124,733 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lowered its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 16.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 614,904 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 124,733 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $43,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of WFC traded up $0.52 on Thursday, reaching $78.89. The stock had a trading volume of 11,274,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,037,433. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $47.45 and a 12-month high of $79.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.48.

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. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on WFC shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 research note 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 company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Wells Fargo & Company from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $73.39.

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.