Wells Fargo & Company Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 158,210 call options on the company. This is an increase of 123% compared to the typical daily volume of 70,902 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Income Research & Management purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at about $211,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.8 %

WFC opened at $80.76 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.28. The company has a market capitalization of $268.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $47.47 and a 1-year high of $81.50. 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 (NYSE:WFC) last released 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 return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.39.

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.