Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Earns “Market Perform” Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $62.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $56.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a hold rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $63.00 price objective (up from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Odeon Capital Group cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $48.80 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $55.85.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:WFC opened at $57.96 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.09. The company has a market cap of $205.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $36.27 and a 52 week high of $58.44.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $20.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.30 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 16.60%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lazari Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 4,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 6,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

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.