Short Interest in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Expands By 46,625.5%

Key Points

• Short interest in Wells Fargo saw a dramatic increase of 46,625.5% in July, totaling 34.39 million shares, with 1.1% of the company's shares currently short sold.
• Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Wells Fargo from $77.00 to $87.00, while the company's average rating stands at "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $80.39.
• Wells Fargo recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.45 per share, reflecting a 2.3% yield, supported by a strong payout ratio of 27.4%.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 34,390,000 shares, anincreaseof46,625.5% from the June 30th total of 73,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 17,720,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently,1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Currently,1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 17,720,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $77.56. The stock had a trading volume of 6,493,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,494,041. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.41 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.20. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $50.22 and a twelve month high of $84.83. The stock's 50 day moving average is $78.65 and its 200 day moving average is $74.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $20.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%. The company's revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is 30.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.39.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WFC. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% in the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $76,095,550,000 after buying an additional 949,735,001 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,411,992,000 after buying an additional 3,307,855 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,497,429 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,471,259,000 after buying an additional 128,207 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in 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 worth $1,105,218,000 after buying an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 62,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company's stock.

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.