Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $79.84 and last traded at $78.69, with a volume of 905483 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WFC. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Compass Point boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $263.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.92.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.09. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Spinnaker Trust boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 7,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 7,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 5,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. New Republic Capital LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. New Republic Capital LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 4,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.