Equity Investment Corp Reduces Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Equity Investment Corp reduced its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,394,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 148,693 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company accounts for approximately 3.9% of Equity Investment Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $168,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WFC. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,369,000 after acquiring an additional 30,510 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 638,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,055,000 after purchasing an additional 173,083 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 177,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,031,000 after purchasing an additional 26,320 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 132,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,504,000 after purchasing an additional 18,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 14.7% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,027,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,055,000 after buying an additional 131,322 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFC has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WFC opened at $76.39 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $254.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.51.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

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.