Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Up 0.8% - Still a Buy?

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)'s stock price was up 0.8% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $71.80 and last traded at $71.88. Approximately 1,700,587 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 17,069,736 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $75.55.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 9.2 %

The business's 50 day simple moving average is $75.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.40. The stock has a market cap of $214.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 75.5% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 7,599 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 3,269 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 320.1% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 57,459 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,246,000 after purchasing an additional 43,782 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 46.0% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 18,376 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 5,788 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 441,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $24,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 1,447.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 689,085 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $38,926,000 after purchasing an additional 644,552 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by 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.