Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Gap Up to $54.59

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $54.59, but opened at $56.00. Wells Fargo & Company shares last traded at $55.42, with a volume of 3,976,003 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $187.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.94.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.85%.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WFC. John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% during the second quarter. John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs now owns 7,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. McAdam LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 5,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the second quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 13.0% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.4% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 5,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.