Short Interest in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Decreases By 20.2%

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,060,000 shares, a decrease of 20.2% from the December 15th total of 37,660,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 17,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.17.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE:WFC traded up $1.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $77.22. 20,609,919 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,990,602. The company has a market capitalization of $257.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $46.12 and a 12 month high of $78.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 12.25% and a net margin of 14.43%. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 33.26%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.