Van ECK Associates Corp Takes $4.34 Million Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 61,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 445,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,237,000 after buying an additional 56,458 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 8,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $806,000. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 40,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,858,000 after buying an additional 6,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC opened at $80.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $74.55 and a 200-day moving average of $66.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $268.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $50.15 and a 12-month high of $81.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WFC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.