Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. trimmed its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,061 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $13,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,095,550,000 after buying an additional 949,735,001 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 302,092,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,203,688,000 after acquiring an additional 1,341,222 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,990,551,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 54.9% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,635,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,332,851,000 after acquiring an additional 5,894,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 18.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 14,155,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,165,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180,693 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of WFC opened at $94.53 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $58.42 and a 12-month high of $95.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $88.10 and its 200 day moving average is $83.24. The company has a market capitalization of $296.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $21.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.11 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. Research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WFC. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $101.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Cfra Research raised Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.04.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.