Flputnam Investment Management Co. Buys 966 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $153,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,716 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,567,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,679 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $383,532,000 after purchasing an additional 897,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 81.6% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,981,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,914,000 after purchasing an additional 889,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:WFC opened at $76.96 on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $253.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 29.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.39.

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.