Wells Fargo Gets Three Price Target Cuts in One Day: Is the ROTCE Recovery Story Falling Apart?

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) banal slipped connected Wednesday aft 3 Wall Street firms trimmed their terms targets pursuing the bank's Q1 2026 net merchandise connected April 14. The cuts from Barclays, Bank of America, and Piper Sandler awesome increasing unease astir whether Wells Fargo tin present connected its ambitious profitability targets. WFC banal trades adjacent $80.75, down 13% year-to-date.

The header numbers were coagulated for Wells Fargo: diluted EPS of $1.6, up 15% year-over-year, and gross of $21.45 billion, up 6%. Yet Wells Fargo's nett involvement borderline compression and softer-than-expected interest income gave analysts crushed to reassess the bank's trajectory toward its medium-term ROTCE people of 17% to 18%.

Barclays expert Jason Goldberg trimmed his WFC banal terms people to $108 from $113 portion keeping an Overweight rating. Earnings excluding a taxation payment were light, with nett involvement income, fees, and expenses each coming successful beneath expectations, though Goldberg acknowledged that plus prime remained unchangeable and buybacks continued.

READ: The expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 just named his apical 10 AI stocks

BofA made the sharpest cut, dropping its Wells Fargo banal terms people to $95 from $107 portion maintaining a Buy. The steadfast called Wells Fargo's nett involvement borderline contraction of 13 ground points quarter-over-quarter the "real sticker shock," and flagged that it raises further doubts astir the ROTCE betterment thesis. BofA besides lowered its FY26 and FY27 EPS estimates for Wells Fargo by 2% and 4%, respectively, and reduced its assigned multiples connected diminished EPS visibility.

Moreover, Piper Sandler lowered its WFC banal terms people to $94 from $100, keeping an Overweight rating. Its revised estimates enactment 2026 EPS astatine $6.72 (down from $6.82) and 2027 EPS astatine $7.36 (down from $7.42). These trims bespeak a accordant theme: the way to 17% to 18% ROTCE is narrowing.