Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Shares Down 4.9% – Should You Sell?

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) shares were down 4.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $88.76 and last traded at $88.97. Approximately 5,482,378 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 12,508,980 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.56.

Wells Fargo & Company News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Wells Fargo & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly profit and EPS strength — Wells Fargo posted solid Q4 net income and earnings-per-share improvement versus a year ago, driven by higher interest income and trading activity, which supports the bank’s profitability narrative. Wells Fargo Reports Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Post-asset-cap growth thesis — analysts and commentators flagged this as Wells Fargo’s first full-scale post-asset-cap earnings test; management is positioning for faster growth now that the Fed’s cap is gone, which could re-rate long?term investor expectations if execution continues. Wells Fargo Enters Its First Post-Asset-Cap Earnings Test
• Neutral Sentiment: New analyst coverage — CICC Research initiated coverage with a “market perform” rating and a $96 price target, giving a modest upside view but not a clear catalyst to drive momentum. CICC Research Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue and net?interest-income misses — the quarter beat on EPS but missed consensus revenue and NII forecasts (reports cite revenue below estimates and NII came in light), which is the primary driver of the intraday weakness as investors focus on top?line momentum. Wells Fargo comes up short on revenue as it sets new profit target
• Negative Sentiment: One?time charges and lower guidance items — reports note severance/one?time costs and a conservative near?term interest?income outlook that trimmed expectations for 2026, pressuring the stock despite underlying profit gains. Wells Fargo Stock: Earnings Miss Sends Shares Down After Strong 2025
• Negative Sentiment: Political/regulatory risk — broader bank headlines note escalating tensions over a proposed 10% cap on credit?card interest rates from the White House; that policy risk and related rhetoric amplify investor caution for card-heavy lenders like WFC. Big banks report soaring profits amid tensions with Trump over credit card interest rates

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WFC. Truist Financial upped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Baird R W cut Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.03.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 5.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $277.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $90.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.69.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $21.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.63 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 17.18%.Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.61%.

Institutional Trading of Wells Fargo & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,095,550,000 after purchasing an additional 949,735,001 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 302,092,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,203,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,222 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,990,551,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,660,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,989,104,000 after buying an additional 5,584,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,009,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,760,994,000 after buying an additional 399,088 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.