Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $245.04 Million Stake in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Key Points

• Brandes Investment Partners LP reduced its Wells Fargo stake by 10% in the fourth quarter, selling 292,522 shares and leaving it with 2.63 million shares valued at about $245 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with 75.9% of Wells Fargo shares held by institutions and several large investors, including Norges Bank and Capital Research Global Investors, also increasing or initiating positions.
• Analysts remain mostly constructive on WFC: the stock carries a consensus Moderate Buy rating with a $97.53 target price, while recent earnings beat expectations and management signaled higher net interest income and continued revenue momentum.

Brandes Investment Partners LP cut its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,629,147 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 292,522 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company makes up 1.9% of Brandes Investment Partners LP's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 0.08% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $245,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,512,563,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 37,421,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,487,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,484 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,197,423 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,975,600,000 after purchasing an additional 188,186 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.9% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,128,470 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $763,675,000 after purchasing an additional 174,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 8,258,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $769,649,000 after purchasing an additional 471,979 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. HSBC upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They set a "buy" rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.53.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

WFC opened at $81.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $250.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $71.93 and a 1-year high of $97.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $79.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.68.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $11.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.85 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 17.26%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.39 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is 27.78%.

Wells Fargo & Company News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo’s CFO said the bank expects net interest income to rise this quarter and reaffirmed its full-year target of about $50 billion, which supports the case for stronger core profitability as loan growth improves. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Management also signaled mid-teens growth in its markets business for the second quarter and reiterated its NII guidance, reinforcing investor confidence that Wells Fargo can deliver stable revenue momentum. MSN/Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view WFC favorably, with one Bank of America Securities note reiterating a Buy rating and an unchanged $95 price target, suggesting attractive risk-reward if earnings execution holds. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo also highlighted support for community investment, including a $1.2 million grant to Urban Strategies Inc. for economic mobility and entrepreneurship initiatives, which is positive for reputation but likely limited in near-term stock impact. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo presented at the Morgan Stanley US Financials Conference, where investors typically look for updates on strategy and performance, but no major new surprise was highlighted in the headline. Seeking Alpha transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent coverage noted WFC stock underperformed the broader market on Monday, and insider selling headlines may reinforce caution among traders in the short term. MarketWatch article

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.

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