Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Price Target Lowered to $65.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $68.00 to $65.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

WFC has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Wells Fargo & Company to a hold rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.4 %

WFC stock opened at $53.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $187.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.94. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.38 and a fifty-two week high of $62.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.29 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $2,623,044,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 26,319,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,295,459,000 after buying an additional 263,176 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 25,218,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,241,231,000 after acquiring an additional 781,772 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 19,848,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,178,591,000 after acquiring an additional 831,975 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,905,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,690,000 after acquiring an additional 25,896 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

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.