Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Trading 1.5% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) shot up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $78.00 to $85.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company traded as high as $83.95 and last traded at $83.60. 3,976,023 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 17,284,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.36.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.33.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RKL Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 166.4% during the first quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 5,113 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 204,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,343,000 after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 651,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,783,000 after purchasing an additional 70,104 shares in the last quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC now owns 130,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,167,000 after acquiring an additional 5,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,150,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,818,000 after acquiring an additional 122,899 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $271.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.34 and a 200-day moving average of $73.44.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. The business 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 12.15% and a net margin of 16.19%. The company’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.