Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 13,826 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 210,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,826 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $16,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% in the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,095,550,000 after buying an additional 949,735,001 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter valued at $3,990,551,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 54.9% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,635,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,332,851,000 after acquiring an additional 5,894,747 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 18.2% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 14,155,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,165,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,180,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 8,010.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,973,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $158,135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949,395 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $92.76 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $58.42 and a 1 year high of $93.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.51 and its 200-day moving average is $81.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WFC. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.04.

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.