Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Short Interest Update

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,060,000 shares, a decrease of 20.2% from the December 15th total of 37,660,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 17,180,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WFC. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $32,505,000 after buying an additional 11,037 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 37.2% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 638,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,055,000 after acquiring an additional 173,083 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 17.4% in the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 177,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,031,000 after purchasing an additional 26,320 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 132,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,504,000 after purchasing an additional 18,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argus Investors Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 31,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 8,107 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WFC shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.17.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

WFC traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $76.00. 2,702,452 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,122,039. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $46.12 and a 1-year high of $78.13.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.26%.

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.