State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,252,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,935 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $87,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. 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 analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

WFC opened at $79.68 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $265.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $48.62 and a 1-year high of $81.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.15.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 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, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.