Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $94.37 and last traded at $94.2740, with a volume of 5101978 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $93.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Truist Financial upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.04.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.4%

The stock has a market cap of $295.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average is $86.77 and its 200-day moving average is $82.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.11 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 17.18%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.61%.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,095,550,000 after acquiring an additional 949,735,001 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter worth approximately $3,990,551,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 54.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,635,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,851,000 after purchasing an additional 5,894,747 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 18.6% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,660,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,989,104,000 after buying an additional 5,584,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at approximately $215,638,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.