Wells Fargo shares close higher on Friday, bank to pay $480 million to settle sales scandal-associated lawsuit

According to a statement by Wells Fargo last week, it has agreed to pay as much as $480 million in order to settle a securities fraud lawsuit associated with the sales scandal that emerged almost two years ago.

Wells Fargo’s shares closed higher for the second time in the past seven trading sessions on Friday. The stock went up 1.69% ($0.87) to $52.41, after touching an intraday high at $52.90, or a price level not seen since April 30th ($53.05).

In the week ended on May 6th the shares of the third-largest US bank by assets added 0.10% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the second gain out of five weeks. Yet, it has been the smallest increase since the week ended on May 21st 2017.

The stock has neutralized earlier losses and is now up 0.87% so far during the current month, following a 0.86% drop in April. The latter has been a third straight month of losses.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NYSE-listed bank holding company gained 10.09% following another 1.38% surge in 2016.

The class action lawsuit, filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California, sought compensation for market players who had invested in Wells Fargo shares within the period February 2014-September 2016.

According to claims in the lawsuit, the Wall Street bank made particular incorrect statements and omissions, when disclosing information associated with its sales practices.

These allegations, however, had been denied by Wells Fargo.

The bank also said it had reached an agreement to avoid the cost and disruption of further litigation.

According to CNN Money, the 30 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Wells Fargo’s stock price, have a median target of $62.00 with a high estimate of $75.00 and a low estimate of $45.00. The median estimate is an 18.30% surge compared to the closing price of $52.41 on May 4th.

The same media also reported that 12 out of 32 surveyed investment analysts had rated Wells Fargo’s stock as “Buy”, while 11 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 6 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Wells Fargo stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $52.58
R2 – $52.75
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $52.91
R4 (Long Breakout) – $53.42
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $54.00
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $54.29

S1 – $52.24
S2 – $52.07
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $51.91
S4 (Short Breakout) – $51.40
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $50.82
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $50.53

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $52.09
R1 – $53.37
R2 – $54.33
R3 – $55.61
R4 – $56.89

S1 – $51.13
S2 – $49.85
S3 – $48.89
S4 – $47.93