Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC Sells 240 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 2.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,307,855 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,369,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,430,742,000 after acquiring an additional 238,131 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,105,218,000 after acquiring an additional 14,210,193 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,914,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $977,338,000 after purchasing an additional 62,099 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.98.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $75.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.87. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $50.15 and a twelve month high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $20.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 16.19% and a return on equity of 12.15%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.