Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Purchases Shares of 13,709 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $675,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 131.0% in the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,453,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958,483 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,780,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,132 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 3,314,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,549,979 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,894,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,260,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,000 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on WFC. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, April 15th. Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock traded down $0.48 on Tuesday, reaching $59.32. 18,007,381 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,055,352. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $36.40 and a 1-year high of $61.76. The company has a market cap of $210.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $57.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.97.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.06 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.