Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,237,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 526,178 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,143,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 40.4% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,308,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677,050 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 131.0% in the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,453,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $141,124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958,483 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,780,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,132 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 3,314,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $163,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,549,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $54,894,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WFC. Odeon Capital Group cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $48.80 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $62.00 target price (up previously from $56.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.99.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of WFC traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $60.79. 7,810,374 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,771,238. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $57.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.62. The company has a market capitalization of $211.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $37.18 and a 12 month high of $61.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.23%.

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.