Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $188.70 Million Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,251,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,525 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company comprises approximately 1.6% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $188,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter worth $3,656,000. Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter valued at about $364,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 65.2% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 43,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,656,000 after acquiring an additional 17,223 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $10,729,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $94.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. CICC Research started coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.87.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.6%

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $88.16 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $58.42 and a 1-year high of $97.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $90.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $276.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.06, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.09.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.10. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.27%.The company had revenue of $11.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 28.71%.

Key Headlines Impacting Wells Fargo & Company

Here are the key news stories impacting Wells Fargo & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Board approved a quarterly common-stock dividend of $0.45 per share, payable March 1 to holders of record Feb. 6 — a clear cash-return signal for income investors. Wells Fargo Announces Common Stock Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest fell ~12.3% in January to ~33.7M shares (?1.1% of float; 2.0 days to cover), lowering short-driven downside risk and potentially removing a seller cohort. Source: market data
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo hired an Amazon Web Services executive, Faraz Shafiq, to lead AI efforts — a strategic hire that may improve productivity, risk modeling and client-facing tech over time. Wells Fargo hires Amazon Web Services exec Faraz Shafiq for AI push
• Positive Sentiment: Industry trend: coverage notes that major banks (including Wells Fargo) are investing heavily in generative AI — a structural tailwind that could boost efficiency and margins over time. From JPMorgan to Wells Fargo, here’s how the biggest banks on Wall Street are using AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is mixed-to-moderately optimistic: coverage roundup shows analysts broadly neutral-to-positive on WFC, citing slower recent performance but steady fundamentals and reasonable valuation. This keeps upside possible but not unanimous. Are Wall Street Analysts Predicting Wells Fargo Stock Will Climb or Sink?
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo research activity (e.g., updating revenue forecasts for other companies such as Alnylam) signals an active equity research desk but has limited direct impact on WFC’s own fundamentals. Wells Fargo Raises Alnylam (ALNY) Revenue Estimates for Amvuttra Despite Projected Margin Compression
• Negative Sentiment: Talent loss — BMO Capital Markets hired Wells Fargo’s Malik as operating chief, reflecting some executive turnover and potential loss of institutional knowledge. That kind of departure can concern investors about bench strength and continuity. BMO Capital Markets hires Wells Fargo’s Malik as operating chief

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.