Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.09.
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WFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $49.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Finally, Odeon Capital Group raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $51.79 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 10th.
Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance
NYSE WFC opened at $46.68 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $44.90 and its 200-day moving average is $44.47. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $36.54 and a 12-month high of $54.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $177.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.19.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $19.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.04 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.91% and a return on equity of 9.28%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current year.
Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 3rd were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.22%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, EVP Kleber Santos sold 34,698 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.27, for a total transaction of $1,605,476.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $906,429.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the third quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 21,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $882,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Tevis Investment Management lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 19.4% during the third quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 2,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 15.3% during the second quarter. Tranquilli Financial Advisor LLC now owns 5,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.1% during the second quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 33,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the last quarter. 72.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Wells Fargo & Company
Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified, community-based financial services company. It is engaged in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage products and services, and consumer and commercial finance. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management.
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Source: marketbeat.com
