Short Interest in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Declines By 17.9%

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 27,260,000 shares, a decline of 17.9% from the January 15th total of 33,210,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 16,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $3,365,658,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,411,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,855 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% in the 4th 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. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake 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 valued at $977,338,000 after purchasing an additional 62,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock traded down $0.39 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $80.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,008,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,924,040. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $50.15 and a one year high of $81.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $267.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.18.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The business had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on WFC shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.39.

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.