TCW Group Inc. Increases Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

TCW Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 556,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 98,247 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $31,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 18,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth approximately $357,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 732,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares in the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 354.7% during the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 3,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625 shares during the period. Finally, Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 21,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,421,957. This trade represents a 26.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Beurden Saul Van sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total value of $2,169,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 126,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,853,327.13. This represents a 21.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.49.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $72.05 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $45.57 and a one year high of $78.13. The company has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.40 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 33.26%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.