Russell Investments Group Ltd. Lowers Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,379,187 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 283,187 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.10% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $237,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,365,658,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $336,375,000 after buying an additional 5,237,500 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth approximately $117,026,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $85,031,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 3,286,809 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $230,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150,443 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock traded up $1.13 on Monday, reaching $62.11. 41,270,103 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,352,552. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $50.15 and a twelve month high of $81.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

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Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on WFC. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.55.

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.