Sapient Capital LLC Lowers Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 331,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,852 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $28,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,656,000. Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $364,000. NatWest Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.6% during the first quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 180,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,952,000 after acquiring an additional 7,934 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 25.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 238,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,145,000 after acquiring an additional 48,494 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 0.0%

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $95.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.04. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $58.42 and a 12 month high of $95.85. The company has a market capitalization of $299.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $21.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.11 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 17.18%.The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.04.

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.