Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases 1,253 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. National Pension Service raised its position 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 valued at $383,532,000 after purchasing an additional 897,195 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,641,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,183,000 after buying an additional 162,066 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,284,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,983,000 after buying an additional 575,892 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% during 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 buying an additional 5,237,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $160,529,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $77.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $47.45 and a 12-month high of $78.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $73.19 and a 200-day moving average of $64.10.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.39.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.