Cannell & Spears LLC Purchases 472 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Cannell & Spears LLC grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 472 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.6 %

WFC opened at $71.85 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.29. The firm has a market cap of $234.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $50.15 and a twelve month high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.97.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.