Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Trims Stake in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lessened its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 6.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 825,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 56,172 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company comprises 1.4% of Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $66,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,095,550,000 after purchasing an additional 949,735,001 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,497,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,471,259,000 after buying an additional 128,207 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,740,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $771,092,000 after acquiring an additional 7,894,919 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,953,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $640,616,000 after acquiring an additional 523,107 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,009,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $431,418,000 after purchasing an additional 544,473 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WFC shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial cut Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.97.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $84.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $80.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.74. The company has a market capitalization of $270.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.25. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $53.31 and a 12-month high of $86.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%.Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.82%.

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.