Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 850,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,771 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $70,267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WFC. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 7,954.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 384,483,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,773,676,000 after purchasing an additional 379,709,426 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $4,512,563,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 37,421,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,487,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760,484 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,197,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,975,600,000 after acquiring an additional 188,186 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 20,625,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,922,257,000 after purchasing an additional 2,369,260 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFC has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC traded down $1.97 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $88.00. The company had a trading volume of 9,750,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,200,117. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $72.78 and a fifty-two week high of $97.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $22.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.86 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 17.55%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.07%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.