Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Holdings Raised by Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 21.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 537,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,700 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $45,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% during the third quarter. Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 6,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Embree Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 3,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 12,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $99.00 to $99.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $94.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $89.08 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $58.42 and a 12-month high of $97.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $91.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $279.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.09.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $11.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.63 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 28.71%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.