Wells Fargo & Company Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 109,589 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 48% compared to the average volume of 74,152 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 730.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 5,954,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,375,000 after buying an additional 5,237,500 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at about $160,529,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3,295.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,331,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,493,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,898 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 158.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,709,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 6,789,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $383,532,000 after purchasing an additional 897,195 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE:WFC traded up $5.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $76.25. 24,447,015 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,846,024. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $72.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $253.87 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $46.12 and a 12-month high of $78.13.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WFC. Phillip Securities raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.83 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.92.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.