Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) was downgraded by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report issued on Sunday, The Fly reports.
Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Co from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Co to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Atlantic Securities raised Wells Fargo & Co from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Sandler O’Neill raised Wells Fargo & Co from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $62.04 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Vetr downgraded Wells Fargo & Co from a “strong-buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $55.47 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.29.
Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) traded down $1.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.07. The stock had a trading volume of 18,447,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,350,000. The firm has a market cap of $315,500.00, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Wells Fargo & Co has a 12 month low of $49.27 and a 12 month high of $66.31.
Wells Fargo & Co announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 23rd that permits the company to buyback 350,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.
In other news, insider Michael J. Loughlin sold 17,482 shares of Wells Fargo & Co stock in a transaction on Monday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $1,010,459.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Richard Levy sold 97,000 shares of Wells Fargo & Co stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.47, for a total value of $5,477,590.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 184,482 shares of company stock valued at $10,471,050 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Co by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 314,755,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,440,601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,621,402 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Co by 10.8% in the second quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 111,753,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,192,259,000 after purchasing an additional 10,927,679 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Co by 19.7% in the second quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,327,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,511,614,000 after purchasing an additional 7,445,414 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Co by 17.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,143,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,937,888,000 after purchasing an additional 5,305,125 shares during the period. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Co by 1.4% in the third quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 26,335,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,451,064,000 after purchasing an additional 368,667 shares during the period. 76.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Wells Fargo & Co Company Profile
Wells Fargo & Company is a bank holding company. The Company is a diversified financial services company. It has three operating segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. The Company offers its services under three categories: personal, small business and commercial.
