Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Stock Price Up 2% – Time to Buy?

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s share price rose 2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $78.62 and last traded at $78.55. Approximately 4,643,000 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 17,347,830 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays cut their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.98.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $254.64 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $72.70 and a 200-day moving average of $72.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

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 analyst estimates of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 16.19%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,411,992,000 after buying an additional 3,307,855 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,497,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,471,259,000 after buying an additional 128,207 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake 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 valued at $1,105,218,000 after buying an additional 14,210,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 62,099 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.