Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 13,677 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,977,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,677 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $138,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $383,532,000 after acquiring an additional 897,195 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,641,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,183,000 after acquiring an additional 162,066 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $441,983,000 after acquiring an additional 575,892 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,237,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $160,529,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.8 %

WFC stock opened at $79.56 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $73.61 and a 200 day moving average of $64.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $47.45 and a twelve month high of $79.85. The firm has a market cap of $264.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.39.

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.