M&G PLC Buys 2,245,307 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

M&G PLC raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 320.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,946,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,245,307 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company makes up 1.3% of M&G PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. M&G PLC owned approximately 0.09% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $247,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 302,092,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,203,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,222 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,990,551,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,859,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,496,998,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223,999 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 14,155,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,165,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,180,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 8,469,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $678,598,000 after acquiring an additional 88,358 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $102.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.03.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $86.94 on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $58.42 and a 1 year high of $97.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $272.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.93.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $11.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.63 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. Analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 28.71%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.