Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) traded up 1% during trading on Wednesday 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 $82.21 and last traded at $82.33. 3,481,621 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 17,258,932 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.49.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “hold” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 3,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 8,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGIM Custom Harvest LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 4,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $271.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.07 and a 200 day moving average of $73.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 16.19%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.73%.

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

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.