Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 614,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 124,733 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $43,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 52,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,693,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Investors Research Corp increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 13,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 4,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Income Research & Management purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock traded up $0.92 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $78.80. 1,343,700 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,762,091. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $73.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.38. The company has a market cap of $262.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $47.45 and a 1 year high of $78.98.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend 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.