587,300 Shares in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Purchased by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 587,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $49,227,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 66,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 25,436 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the first quarter worth $228,000. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 20.9% during the first quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. AlTi Global Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the first quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 5,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 55,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,990,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $93.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $88.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.53. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $292.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.09.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.11 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 12.51%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 29.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WFC shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $101.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.04.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.