Balentine LLC Sells 506 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Balentine LLC decreased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 506 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WFC. Jacobsen Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 5,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. New Republic Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. New Republic Capital LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 52,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,693,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Investors Research Corp increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the third quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 13,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Ellenbecker Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.9% during the third quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 4,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WFC. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. 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 note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock opened at $79.05 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $263.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.51. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $47.59 and a twelve month high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. 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.