Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Invests $37.58 Million in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 535,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,578,000. Wells Fargo & Company accounts for 1.1% of Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,411,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,855 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,369,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,430,742,000 after purchasing an additional 238,131 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,105,218,000 after buying an additional 14,210,193 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,914,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $977,338,000 after buying an additional 62,099 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Raymond James cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $75.98 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.32. The stock has a market cap of $247.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $20.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 29th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.