Spring Capital Management LLC Takes $290,000 Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Spring Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after buying an additional 5,237,500 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $160,529,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 3,295.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,331,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404,898 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $153,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $383,532,000 after purchasing an additional 897,195 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.17.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WFC opened at $77.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $257.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.33. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $46.12 and a 52-week high of $78.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 33.26%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.