Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Position Boosted by Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 40,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,284 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $2,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PFG Advisors boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.6% during the third quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 101,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,748,000 after purchasing an additional 3,536 shares during the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 43,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,446,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 106.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 48,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,725,000 after buying an additional 24,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transform Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 117.2% in the third quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 228,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,913,000 after buying an additional 123,326 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Compass Point boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $79.22 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $74.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.78. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $47.59 and a 52-week high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

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.