Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $65.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on WFC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a hold rating and decreased their target price for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $60.65.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of WFC stock opened at $57.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $55.22 and a 200-day moving average of $57.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $38.58 and a 12-month high of $62.55. The company has a market capitalization of $196.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $20.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. 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. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.85%.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 161,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,819 shares in the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 575,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,505,000 after purchasing an additional 11,037 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 58,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,284,000 after purchasing an additional 4,848 shares in the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 63,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,615,000 after buying an additional 3,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 42,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,405,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

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.