Capital International Investors Sells 2,987,566 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Capital International Investors lowered its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,951,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,987,566 shares during the period. Capital International Investors’ holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,227,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,365,658,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $117,026,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $85,031,000. Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 3,286,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $230,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150,443 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,679 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Raymond James dropped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $64.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $211.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $71.53 and its 200 day moving average is $70.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.15 and a 1-year high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.73%.

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.