Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 6,476,780 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Primecap Management Co. CA cut its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,539,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,476,780 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company comprises approximately 1.4% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA owned approximately 0.77% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $1,793,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $441,983,000 after acquiring an additional 575,892 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after buying an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in 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 worth $153,069,000 after buying an additional 1,659,716 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in 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 worth $111,914,000 after buying an additional 889,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in 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 worth $137,832,000 after buying an additional 758,893 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on WFC. Royal Bank of Canada raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $70.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $233.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month high of $81.50. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. 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.