L & S Advisors Inc Takes $9.65 Million Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

L & S Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 137,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,648,000. Wells Fargo & Company makes up approximately 1.1% of L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,369,000 after acquiring an additional 30,510 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 37.2% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 638,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,055,000 after purchasing an additional 173,083 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 17.4% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 177,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,031,000 after buying an additional 26,320 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NatWest Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 57.7% in the 4th quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 172,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,115,000 after purchasing an additional 63,102 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $70.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $75.84 and a 200-day moving average of $69.92. The company has a market cap of $230.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $50.15 and a one year high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on WFC. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.97.

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.