Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Cuts Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 757 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. InvesTrust purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $8,210,000. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $2,327,000. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth $425,000. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 34,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 10,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New Hampshire boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 1,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Wells Fargo & Company

In related news, EVP Beurden Saul Van sold 35,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total value of $2,169,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 126,687 shares in the company, valued at $7,853,327.13. The trade was a 21.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 163,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,421,957. The trade was a 26.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WFC shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $61.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.92.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $71.55 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.76. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $46.12 and a 52 week high of $78.13. The company has a market capitalization of $238.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.14. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.26%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.