Sapient Capital LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,771 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 410.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC now owns 67,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,757,000 after buying an additional 54,262 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 97,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,000,000 after buying an additional 11,825 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 61.7% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 121,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,983,000 after buying an additional 46,525 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,499,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 98.8% in the 3rd quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 60,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,492,000 after buying an additional 30,316 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WFC traded down $0.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.32. The company had a trading volume of 18,007,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,055,352. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $57.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.97. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $36.40 and a fifty-two week high of $61.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.06 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.23%.

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.