Merit Financial Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 38.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 28,397 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $2,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 131.0% during the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,453,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,124,000 after buying an additional 1,958,483 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,780,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,132 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 3,314,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,549,979 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,894,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,260,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price objective (up from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.99.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE WFC opened at $59.94 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.23. The stock has a market cap of $212.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $36.40 and a 12-month high of $61.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.23%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.