Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Has $1.49 Million Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,511 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% during the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 575,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,505,000 after purchasing an additional 11,037 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 132,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,504,000 after acquiring an additional 18,717 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 31,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 8,107 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 111.1% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 18,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 382,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,620,000 after purchasing an additional 20,149 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $74.34 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $41.99 and a 52 week high of $74.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.14.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.40 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.26%.

Insider Transactions at Wells Fargo & Company

In related news, EVP Ather Williams III sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.70, for a total transaction of $3,822,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,421,957. The trade was a 26.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Beurden Saul Van sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.99, for a total transaction of $2,169,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 126,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,853,327.13. This trade represents a 21.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WFC. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.83 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.12.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.