Northern Trust Corp Grows Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,307,855 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.03% of Wells Fargo & Company worth $2,411,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $87,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $108,000. Berger Financial Group Inc boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 12,232 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 6,372 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WFC. 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Phillip Securities raised Wells Fargo & Company from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $71.08. 23,930,923 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,519,527. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $50.15 and a 52-week high of $81.50. 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 company has a market capitalization of $232.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.67.

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

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

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.73%.

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.