Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $88.64 and last traded at $87.5650, with a volume of 3526356 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $86.19.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Cfra Research raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.57.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $273.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.42 and a 200-day moving average of $79.67.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.11 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% in the second quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,095,550,000 after purchasing an additional 949,735,001 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 302,092,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,203,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,222 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,990,551,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,497,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,471,259,000 after purchasing an additional 128,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,859,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,496,998,000 after buying an additional 1,223,999 shares in 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.