Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 17 brokerages, with 10 analysts rating it as a buy and 7 as a hold.
• The stock currently has a price target of approximately $82.56 and has shown a 12-month high of $84.83, along with a recent opening price of $81.14.
• Wells Fargo recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.40 to $0.45 per share, reflecting a yield of 2.2% and a payout ratio of 30.82%.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.5588.

A number of analysts have recently commented on WFC shares. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. WT Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 9.3% in the second quarter. WT Wealth Management now owns 3,582 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.4% in the second quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. now owns 40,125 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,215,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 63.5% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 60,607 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,856,000 after acquiring an additional 23,549 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 43.2% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 216,618 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $17,355,000 after acquiring an additional 65,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth about $1,359,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $81.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $259.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.25. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $50.22 and a 12 month high of $84.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.12.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 12.29%. Wells Fargo & Company's revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.82%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.