Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Rating Lowered to Market Perform at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) from a strong-buy rating to a market perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Phillip Securities raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.98.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE:WFC opened at $81.78 on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $50.15 and a 52 week high of $83.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $266.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $76.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.70.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 16.19%. The company had revenue of $20.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% in the second quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,095,550,000 after purchasing an additional 949,735,001 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,365,658,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased 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 purchasing an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,740,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $771,092,000 after purchasing an additional 7,894,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350,605 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.