Norges Bank Takes $3.37 Billion Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 47,916,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,365,658,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.44% of Wells Fargo & Company at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,369,000 after purchasing an additional 30,510 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 37.2% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 638,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,055,000 after buying an additional 173,083 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 177,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,031,000 after buying an additional 26,320 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,027,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,055,000 after buying an additional 131,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WFC. 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 research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.18.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE WFC opened at $73.45 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.79. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $50.15 and a one year high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $239.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. Analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

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.