Ethic Inc. Has $3.80 Million Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 58.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,048 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 19,955 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $205,000. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 721,698 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $50,692,000 after purchasing an additional 28,314 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $1,522,000. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 17,676 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 163,093 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,410,000 after acquiring an additional 2,608 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $75.73.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC traded up $0.62 on Friday, hitting $76.21. 5,919,932 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,497,548. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.15 and a 12 month high of $81.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $69.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.41. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $248.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.