Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Receives Buy Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, July 28th. They presently have a $60.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.83% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on WFC. Deutsche Bank AG restated a “buy” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & in a research report on Monday, July 3rd. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Vetr downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.06 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Buckingham Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $53.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Wells Fargo & has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.87.

Wells Fargo & (WFC) opened at 51.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $54.18 and its 200 day moving average is $54.90. Wells Fargo & has a 12 month low of $43.55 and a 12 month high of $59.99.

Wells Fargo & (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $22.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.23 billion. Wells Fargo & had a net margin of 23.25% and a return on equity of 12.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & will post $4.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 28th that permits the company to buyback $11.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

In other Wells Fargo & news, insider Mary T. Mack sold 38,988 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.58, for a total transaction of $2,049,989.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hope A. Hardison sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.07, for a total value of $1,041,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,675.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,278 shares of company stock worth $6,940,120 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,942,119,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,800,566,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & by 140.1% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 19,088,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,057,700,000 after buying an additional 11,139,780 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & 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 buying an additional 10,927,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & 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 buying an additional 7,445,414 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.05% of the company’s stock.

About Wells Fargo &

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.