Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Shares Sold by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 67.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 262,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 549,079 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $21,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,341,222 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $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 purchasing an additional 1,223,999 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 14,155,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,165,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180,693 shares during the period. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 8,469,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $678,598,000 after purchasing an additional 88,358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WFC shares. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.03.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 2.4%

WFC stock opened at $86.63 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $58.42 and a 12-month high of $97.76. The business’s 50-day moving average is $91.06 and its 200 day moving average is $86.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $271.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.09.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $21.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.63 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.27%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 28.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kleber Santos sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.72, for a total value of $2,193,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 79,876 shares in the company, valued at $7,006,722.72. This represents a 23.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Wells Fargo & Company

Here are the key news stories impacting Wells Fargo & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sharp drop in short interest — Short interest fell ~16.7% in February to ~26.7M shares (about 0.8% of float), lowering potential downward pressure and reducing a short-squeeze risk; shorter days-to-cover (1.7) supports cleaner buy-side momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Leadership hire for business banking — Wells Fargo named Devine to lead Business Banking, signaling focus on commercial growth and execution that can support loan and fee revenue expansion. Wells Fargo Names Devine to Lead Business Banking
• Positive Sentiment: Broker commentary and price action pickup — Market coverage noting the stock’s intraday strength draws attention and can reinforce momentum among investors. Wells Fargo (WFC) Rises Higher Than Market: Key Facts
• Neutral Sentiment: Full redemption of Series BB preferred stock — WFC will redeem all outstanding Series BB preferred shares in mid-March; this removes a small class of perpetual preferred shares (and related dividends) but uses cash and modestly alters capital structure. Wells Fargo & Company Announces Full Redemption of its Series-BB Preferred Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst activity and thematic calls — Wells Fargo analysts remain active (e.g., on Ticketmaster parent), which keeps the firm visible in research flows but is not a direct WFC fundamental change. Ticketmaster antitrust risks are easing, making its parent company’s stock a buy, says Wells Fargo
• Negative Sentiment: Relative underperformance vs. benchmarks — Coverage points out WFC has lagged the Nasdaq over the past year, a potential concern for momentum investors and a reason some funds may underweight the stock. Is Wells Fargo Stock Underperforming the Nasdaq?
• Negative Sentiment: Peer moves and market-cap ranking — HSBC beating and raising guidance highlights competitive pressure in global banking and briefly pushed HSBC ahead of Wells Fargo by market cap, a reminder of relative performance risks. HSBC reports a beat and a raise as it leapfrogs Wells Fargo by market cap

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.