Smithfield Trust Co Sells 300 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Smithfield Trust Co lessened its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 162,066 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings 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 worth $441,983,000 after purchasing an additional 575,892 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 81.6% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,981,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,914,000 after purchasing an additional 889,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $74.20 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. 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 has a market cap of $243.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.79, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.28.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

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.