Traders Buy Large Volume of Wells Fargo & Company Put Options (NYSE:WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 95,144 put options on the company. This is an increase of 55% compared to the average daily volume of 61,250 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wells Fargo & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WFC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $2,623,044,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 25,218,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,241,231,000 after purchasing an additional 781,772 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.4% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of 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 worth $290,690,000 after purchasing an additional 25,896 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 15th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE WFC traded down $0.64 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $53.95. 14,126,958 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,773,945. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.63 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $38.38 and a 12 month high of $62.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

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

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.85%.

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.