Wells Fargo & Company $WFC is Theleme Partners LLP's 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• Theleme Partners LLP reduced its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 20.3%, selling 540,000 shares in the first quarter, making it the firm's 3rd largest position at approximately 12% of their portfolio.
• Wells Fargo recently increased its dividend to $0.45 per share, up from $0.40, yielding an annualized dividend of $1.80 with a payout ratio of 30.82%.
• The company reported Q2 earnings of $1.54 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.41, with a revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter.

Theleme Partners LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 20.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,123,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 540,000 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company makes up approximately 12.0% of Theleme Partners LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Theleme Partners LLP owned approximately 0.07% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $152,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 66,233 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 25,436 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 5,660 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 47,611 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 58.5% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 54,048 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,796,000 after purchasing an additional 19,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 75,310 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,290,000 after buying an additional 2,064 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Phillip Securities cut Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.56.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 3.5%

NYSE:WFC opened at $78.98 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $80.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.03. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $50.22 and a 12-month high of $84.83. The firm has a market cap of $253.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a PEG ratio of 1.23 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 1.06.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%.The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company's quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.82%.

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.

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