Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Trading Up 2.4% - Still a Buy?

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) traded up 2.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $65.62 and last traded at $65.58. 2,529,839 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 17,460,642 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on WFC. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.2 %

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 has a market cap of $227.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The business's 50 day moving average is $70.01 and its 200 day moving average is $71.53.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.73%.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $3,365,658,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $243,589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350,605 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,307,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $198,801,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.