Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Wells Fargo & Company Call Options (NYSE:WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 86,319 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 41% compared to the average daily volume of 61,016 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Dbs Bank raised Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.57.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 585.5% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 472.4% in the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 397.6% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 1.0%

WFC stock traded down $0.89 during trading on Thursday, reaching $86.06. 16,186,736 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,619,053. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $83.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.06. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $58.42 and a 52-week high of $88.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $275.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.22.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.11 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 17.18%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 29.61%.

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.