Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Trading Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s share price shot up 1% during trading on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $79.00 to $80.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company traded as high as $64.34 and last traded at $61.57. 13,453,354 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 17,246,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.98.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on WFC. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.55.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. BNP Paribas bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.72. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $202.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

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.