Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Trading Down 6.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) shares were down 6.7% on Friday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $86.00 to $84.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company traded as low as $59.71 and last traded at $61.27. Approximately 8,072,519 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 17,127,259 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.67.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on WFC. UBS Group lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America decreased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.50.

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Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp increased 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 acquiring an additional 3,307,855 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 238,131 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $198.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

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.