KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Makes New $85.03 Million Investment in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,210,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $85,031,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on WFC. UBS Group upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $72.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $75.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.34. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The company has a market cap of $238.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.