Grandfield & Dodd LLC Makes New $204,000 Investment in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock opened at $76.96 on Tuesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $76.00 and its 200-day moving average is $68.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.