Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 850,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,771 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $70,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Miller Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Navalign LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Phillip James Consulting Co. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Core Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WFC. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $105.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $93.50 to $95.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock traded down $1.97 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $88.00. 9,750,956 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,200,117. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $266.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.92. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $72.78 and a 12-month high of $97.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.65.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.23. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 17.55%.The firm had revenue of $22.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.07%.

Wells Fargo & 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.