Equitable Trust Co. Lowers Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Equitable Trust Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 71.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,740 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 472.4% during the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Wells Fargo & Company News

Here are the key news stories impacting Wells Fargo & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo hired a $3.1 billion advisory team from J.P. Morgan, a move that can immediately boost investment-banking revenue and client relationships if the team brings mandates and fees. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: The bank named Dennis Devine as head of Business Banking (serving firms up to $25M in sales); leadership hires can improve execution and client retention in a strategic segment for fee and deposit growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo research is active: analysts upgraded Alphabet/Google and reiterated/raised views on other tech names (CoreWeave) and raised outlooks on coverage names — this highlights an active research franchise but has limited direct near-term impact on WFC’s fundamentals beyond trading and research revenue. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: The firm’s analyst notes on growth-tech and healthcare (e.g., CoreWeave, Cardinal Health) signal continued investment-banking and research activity, which supports noninterest income but is incremental and timing-dependent. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Negative publicity and potential operational/regulatory risk from a widely reported fraud case: a 90‑year‑old customer lost $814K and Wells Fargo denies the claim — such incidents raise reputational, compliance and possible litigation concerns. Read More.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $85.06 on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.42 and a fifty-two week high of $97.76. The company has a market capitalization of $267.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $91.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $11.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.63 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.27%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WFC. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $94.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. CICC Research initiated coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $102.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Insider Activity at Wells Fargo & Company

In other news, EVP Kleber Santos sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.72, for a total value of $2,193,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 79,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,006,722.72. The trade was a 23.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.