Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 506,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 75,646 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $24,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Summit Global Investments lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 6.3% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 5,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% in the third quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 402,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,462,000 after buying an additional 4,605 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 30.0% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.7% during the third quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 155,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of WFC stock traded up $0.77 during trading on Monday, reaching $61.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,751,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,013,531. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $216.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $56.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.12. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $36.40 and a 1-year high of $61.49.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.06 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $62.00 target price (up from $56.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.