Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 27,260,000 shares, a decline of 17.9% from the January 15th total of 33,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 16,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Income Research & Management acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $79.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.10. The stock has a market cap of $265.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $48.62 and a 1-year high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.74%.

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.