Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by Salzhauer Michael

Salzhauer Michael reduced its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 27.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 133,733 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 51,000 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company comprises about 3.2% of Salzhauer Michael's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Salzhauer Michael's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $9,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $383,532,000 after purchasing an additional 897,195 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,641,581 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $375,183,000 after buying an additional 162,066 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $441,983,000 after acquiring an additional 575,892 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake 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 worth $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at $160,529,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "neutral" rating to an "accumulate" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $80.76 on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $47.47 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The company's 50-day moving average is $73.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $268.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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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