Wells Fargo Gets Tons of Analyst Love

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wells Fargo(WFC) saw 14 analysts raise their target price for the bank's shares last week following its fourth quarter earnings report on Tuesday, according to data from Bloomberg.

"Wells had a very strong quarter in multiple respects. Its loans, deposits, net interest margin, net interest income, and non-interest income were all up. The only negatives in the quarter were an increase in real estate loans losses and relatively high expenses; although expenses did not rise as rapidly as earnings," wrote Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove, who raised his target price to $35 from $31 while maintaining a "buy" rating.

Shares are up about 3% since Tuesday's fourth quarter earnings report

Other analysts making especially big boosts to price targets were Mike Mayo of CLSA, who maintained an "outperform" rating on Wells Fargo, while raising his target price to $32 from $26, and Tom Mitchell of Miller Tabak, who upped his target to $30.64 from $25.45 despite maintaining a "hold" rating.

"There is a degree of noise with the balance sheet (loans purchased and reclassified) and income statement (other fees and expenses both up) but, when the dust settles, Wells Fargo should have about the best revenue growth this quarter," Mayo wrote.

Wells Fargo's mortgage banking unit posted particularly strong results, boosted by a surge in refinancing activity, even as rivals like JPMorgan Chase(JPM) struggled during the quarter.

Wells Fargo shares were down 0.26% on Monday shortly after noon, at $30.46. That represented a gain of 2.9% since Wells reported earnings on Tuesday. Citigroup(C), which reported earnings the same day as Wells and drew the worst reviews among the big four U.S. banks, has seen its shares fall about 3.4% over the same time period, though its shares were up 0.27% midday Monday to $29.72.

-- Written by Dan Freed in New York. Follow this writer on Twitter.

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