Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 113,433 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,774,242 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 113,433 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $265,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,369,000 after purchasing an additional 30,510 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 37.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 173,083 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 177,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,031,000 after acquiring an additional 26,320 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $7,504,000 after acquiring an additional 18,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argus Investors Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 8,107 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.5 %

Wells Fargo & Company stock traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $79.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,156,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,843,363. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.06 and a 200-day moving average of $66.73. The stock has a market cap of $263.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.18. 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 one year low of $50.15 and a one year high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. The business's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company's payout ratio is 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WFC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.