ProVise Management Group LLC Sells 19,102 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

ProVise Management Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 352,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,102 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company accounts for about 2.1% of ProVise Management Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $24,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,237,500 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $153,069,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,716 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,679 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,981,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $111,914,000 after acquiring an additional 889,953 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 63.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,962,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $137,832,000 after acquiring an additional 758,893 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WFC. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Compass Point boosted 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 report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC opened at $71.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $233.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.86 and a 200 day moving average of $69.19. 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 fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect 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 was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 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.