Merit Financial Group LLC Has $6.74 Million Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 95,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,311 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $6,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WFC. Income Research & Management bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth $211,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE WFC opened at $77.22 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $46.12 and a one year high of $78.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap 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 50-day moving average is $72.74 and its 200-day moving average is $63.44.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm 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 company posted $0.86 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.26%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.