Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 156,079 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Key Points

• Nordea Investment Management AB reduced its stake in Wells Fargo by 2.6%, selling 156,079 shares, and now holds approximately 5.78 million shares valued at $466 million.
• Wells Fargo recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.40 to $0.45, representing a yield of 2.1% with a dividend payout ratio of 30.82%.
• Despite a 2.9% drop in trading, Wells Fargo had a strong quarterly performance, reporting an EPS of $1.54, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.41.

Nordea Investment Management AB lowered its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,783,095 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 156,079 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.18% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $466,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 949,735,001 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,497,429 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,471,259,000 after purchasing an additional 128,207 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,740,934 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $771,092,000 after purchasing an additional 7,894,919 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 10,371,812 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $830,990,000 after purchasing an additional 542,493 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,953,009 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $640,616,000 after purchasing an additional 523,107 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 2.9%

WFC opened at $83.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $268.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 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 $87.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.82.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 17.18%.The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Phillip Securities downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.57.

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.

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