Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Stock Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,085,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,997,030 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.63% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $1,481,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $3,365,658,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $117,026,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $85,031,000. Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 3,286,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $230,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150,443 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 410.8% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,374,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,567,000 after buying an additional 1,105,679 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $60.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $198.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. 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 has a 52-week low of $50.15 and a 52-week high of $81.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $74.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.67.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded 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 report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.50.

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.