Traders Buy High Volume of Wells Fargo & Company Call Options (NYSE:WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 82,427 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 30% compared to the average volume of 63,479 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wolfe Research raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.65.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Slagle Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 138,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,822,000 after buying an additional 68,356 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 35,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 152,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,805,000 after purchasing an additional 21,496 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 28.9% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 473,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,441,000 after purchasing an additional 106,260 shares during the period. Finally, FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 154.2% during the first quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,578,000 after buying an additional 16,515 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $60.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $55.39 and its 200-day moving average is $57.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $212.63 billion, a PE ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $38.58 and a 12-month high of $62.55.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.14. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The firm had revenue of $20.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 32.85%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.