Empirical Finance LLC Has $10.25 Million Stake in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 704 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company accounts for approximately 0.5% of Empirical Finance LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $10,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $399,000. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.4% in the first quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 758,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,471,000 after buying an additional 71,740 shares during the period. Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $364,000. Allianz SE raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Allianz SE now owns 212,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,244,000 after buying an additional 39,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NatWest Group plc boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 180,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,952,000 after buying an additional 7,934 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WFC shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Dbs Bank raised Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.57.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $83.89 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $263.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.14. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $58.42 and a 12 month high of $88.64.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.61%.

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.