Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Stock Price Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) traded up 1% during trading on Monday after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. Piper Sandler now has a $77.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company traded as high as $64.34 and last traded at $61.57. 13,453,354 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 17,246,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.98.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. 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. Barclays raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $86.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.66.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $205.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock's fifty day moving average is $73.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.81.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.16. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

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.