Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 50.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,307,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,334,438 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $232,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $552,000. LBP AM SA raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 199.2% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 53,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,738,000 after purchasing an additional 35,429 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $2,921,000. Finally, Impact Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $261,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Compass Point lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE WFC opened at $68.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $50.15 and a 52 week high of $81.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.74.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

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.