HM Payson & Co. Has $18.33 Million Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 409.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 175,816 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $18,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% during the second quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,095,550,000 after acquiring an additional 949,735,001 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% in the 2nd 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 acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth $3,990,551,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 54.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,635,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,851,000 after buying an additional 5,894,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 18.2% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 14,155,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,165,868,000 after buying an additional 2,180,693 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $101.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.04.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $95.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.09. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.85. The stock has a market cap of $299.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.18. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 17.18%.The company had revenue of $21.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 29.61%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.