Waycross Partners LLC Grows Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Waycross Partners LLC increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 67.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 231,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 92,818 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company makes up about 2.1% of Waycross Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Waycross Partners LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $11,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $141,124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958,483 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,780,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,668,000 after buying an additional 1,729,132 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 3,314,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,160,000 after buying an additional 1,549,979 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,894,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,260,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,078,000 after buying an additional 1,166,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WFC. Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. HSBC lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, January 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,007,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,055,352. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $57.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.97. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $36.40 and a 52 week high of $61.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.