Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Wells Fargo & Company Call Options (NYSE:WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 112,469 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 71% compared to the typical daily volume of 65,582 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Citigroup lifted 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 lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 2.3 %

WFC stock traded down $1.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.01. 21,254,105 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,563,040. The stock has a market cap of $233.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week high of $81.50. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $76.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The company's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Wells Fargo & Company's payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $514,000. TFR Capital LLC. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $198,801,000. Brucke Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,013,000. Finally, REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 232.5% in the fourth quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 695 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

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.