Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.39.

Several research analysts have issued reports on WFC shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,411,992,000 after buying an additional 3,307,855 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,369,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,430,742,000 after buying an additional 238,131 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,105,218,000 after buying an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,914,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $977,338,000 after buying an additional 62,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $78.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.75. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $50.15 and a 52-week high of $81.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $260.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 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.