Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Trims Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lowered its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 58.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 90,320 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,308,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,162,000 after buying an additional 2,677,050 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 131.0% in the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,453,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958,483 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,780,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,132 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 3,314,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $163,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,549,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth $54,894,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Odeon Capital Group lowered shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $48.80 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.99.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $60.98 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $37.18 and a 52 week high of $61.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.10. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The firm had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.23%.

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.