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

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 112,469 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 71% compared to the typical volume of 65,582 call options.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of WFC traded down $3.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $73.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,850,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,558,191. The company’s 50 day moving average is $76.00 and its 200 day moving average is $68.11. The stock has a market cap of $242.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.18. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $50.15 and a 12-month high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 7th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

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. Spinnaker Trust raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 7,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Shakespeare Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 7,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crown Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. UBS Group raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently 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.