Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Stock Price Up 1% – Here’s What Happened

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) traded up 1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $65.71 and last traded at $64.63. 18,930,900 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 17,611,591 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $211.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $71.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 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 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 28.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WFC. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

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.