Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Trading Down 6.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) dropped 6.7% on Friday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $86.00 to $84.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company traded as low as $59.71 and last traded at $61.27. Approximately 8,072,519 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 17,127,259 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.67.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on WFC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.4% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 13,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 84.2% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 9,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares in the last quarter. Waller Financial Planning Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $226,000. CWC Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 16,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,180,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 111 Capital bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $776,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $198.89 billion, a PE ratio of 11.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.