Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Stock Price Up 2.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) shot up 2.8% on Tuesday after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. Piper Sandler now has a $77.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company traded as high as $65.63 and last traded at $63.89. 6,098,744 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 17,310,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.17.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports 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 note on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $86.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.66.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,369,000 after purchasing an additional 30,510 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. NatWest Group plc increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 172,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,115,000 after buying an additional 63,102 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,656,000. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $202.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.69.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.