New England Research & Management Inc. Buys New Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

New England Research & Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 9,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $675,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $78.41 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $47.45 and a 52 week high of $78.98. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.38. The firm has a market cap of $261.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.