Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Short Interest Down 17.9% in January

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in 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. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 16,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $79.68 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $48.62 and a 52-week high of $81.50. The firm has a market capitalization 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.39.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.