Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Down 0.8% – What’s Next?

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s stock price dropped 0.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $70.12 and last traded at $71.25. Approximately 2,030,171 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 15,810,716 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Nine 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.55.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $218.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.50 and a 200-day moving average of $70.43.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,307,855 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,369,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,430,742,000 after buying an additional 238,131 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,914,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $977,338,000 after purchasing an additional 62,099 shares during the period. 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.