Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Sunday, September 1st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35.

Wells Fargo & Company has raised its dividend by an average of 2.1% per year over the last three years. Wells Fargo & Company has a payout ratio of 25.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Wells Fargo & Company to earn $5.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.5%.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WFC traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.79. 3,761,823 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,346,104. The stock has a market cap of $208.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.30. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $38.38 and a 1-year high of $62.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WFC. Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.31.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.