Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Sold by Thomasville National Bank

Thomasville National Bank lessened its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 842 shares during the quarter. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WFC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 19,848,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,178,591,000 after purchasing an additional 831,975 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $383,532,000 after buying an additional 897,195 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,641,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,183,000 after buying an additional 162,066 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake 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 buying an additional 575,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $336,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WFC shares. Citigroup upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $61.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.92.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $69.80. 3,461,146 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,506,392. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $46.12 and a 12-month high of $78.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 33.26%.

Insider Activity at Wells Fargo & Company

In other news, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,421,957. This trade represents a 26.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.