Northern Trust Corp Trims Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp reduced its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.5%, now holding approximately 33.8 million shares valued at around $2.43 billion.
• Wells Fargo reported $1.54 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.41 and showing an annual revenue increase of 0.6%.
• The company authorized a $40 billion stock buyback program, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Northern Trust Corp cut its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,808,775 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 530,520 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.04% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $2,427,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WFC. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Motco grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 397.6% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 408 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC opened at $77.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $246.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.20. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $79.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.94. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $50.22 and a 52-week high of $84.83.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WFC. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.58.

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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