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

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 27,260,000 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the January 15th total of 33,210,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 16,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WFC. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at $284,000. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $364,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 651,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,766,000 after buying an additional 23,989 shares during the last quarter. Keel Point LLC raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,619,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,212,000 after acquiring an additional 909,532 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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 note on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WFC opened at $79.68 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $265.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $48.62 and a 12-month high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

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