Wells Fargo & Company $WFC Stake Lessened by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 596,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 130,900 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $50,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First National Bank of Omaha purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter worth about $6,312,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 72,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,043,000 after acquiring an additional 3,251 shares in the last quarter. BBR Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. BBR Partners LLC now owns 17,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. May Hill Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. May Hill Capital LLC now owns 3,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% in the third quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC now owns 130,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,897,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Wells Fargo & Company

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo acted as lead agent on a $1.25 billion senior secured global asset‑based revolving credit facility for City Electric Group — a win for the bank’s syndicated lending and capital‑markets fees and a sign of continued corporate financing activity. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Baird upgraded Wells Fargo to Neutral (from Underperform), citing that recent sell‑off has improved risk/reward even though its $85 target was unchanged — analyst upgrades can lift sentiment and attract buyers after a pullback. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: FT’s feature examines Wells Fargo’s ambitions in investment banking — the strategy could expand fee revenue over time but faces long odds against entrenched competitors and will take years to move the needle. Investors should view this as a strategic positive with long execution risk. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Medalist Diversified REIT announced changes including ending REIT status; filings note Wells Fargo in a lender role — this highlights WFC’s lending exposure to specialty real‑estate borrowers, but the item does not currently signal material credit loss. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo research continues to publish coverage updates (e.g., holds/ratings on other companies such as Enterprise Products and Molson Coors) — this is standard broker activity that supports recurring research revenue but has limited direct impact on WFC’s fundamentals. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index unexpectedly dipped to a five‑month low in February, suggesting softer homebuilding sentiment — weaker housing activity can pressure mortgage originations, F&I income and related loan demand at Wells Fargo. Read More.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $87.35 on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.42 and a fifty-two week high of $97.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $91.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.04. The firm has a market cap of $274.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $11.97 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WFC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Dbs Bank raised Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.03.

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.