Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Stock Has Average Price Target of $98.61 According to Brokerages

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $99.08.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $93.50 to $95.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $82.95 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $86.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $250.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.92. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $72.78 and a 1-year high of $97.76.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.23. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 17.55%.The company had revenue of $22.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.23 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at $658,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 412,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,446,000 after acquiring an additional 17,302 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,922,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $4,512,563,000. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,190,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company that provides banking, lending, investment, and wealth management services to consumers, businesses, and institutions. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, personal lending, commercial financing, and treasury management services.

The company operates through businesses that include consumer and small-business banking, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.