Van ECK Associates Corp Makes New Investment in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 61,828 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,342,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Empowered Funds LLC grew 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 valued at $13,369,000 after acquiring an additional 30,510 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 638,233 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,055,000 after purchasing an additional 173,083 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 177,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $10,031,000 after purchasing an additional 26,320 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 132,829 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,504,000 after purchasing an additional 18,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argus Investors Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 31,514 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 8,107 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WFC shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock traded down $1.66 on Thursday, reaching $78.69. The company had a trading volume of 14,800,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,174,527. The firm has a market cap of $262.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $75.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.73. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.74%.

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.