A good quarter for Wells Fargo

Article Excerpt

WELLS FARGO & CO. $74 is a buy. The bank (New York symbol WFC; Conservative-Growth Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 3.3 billion; Market cap: $244.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.wellsfargo.com) last increased your quarterly dividend by 14.3% with the September 2024 payment, to $0.40 a share from $0.35. The new annual rate of $1.60 yields 2.1%. The bank’s revenue in the quarter ended March 31, 2025, fell 3.4%, to $20.15 billion from $20.86 billion a year earlier. That decline is mainly due to lower interest rates and loan balances. However, revenue from its wealth management business rose 3.5%. Wells Fargo is starting to see the benefits of a restructuring plan, including job cuts and selling unprofitable operations. Earnings gained 7.0%, to $4.62 billion from $4.31 billion. It spent $3.5 billion on share repurchases in the quarter, which is why earnings per share improved 15.8%, to $1.39 from $1.20. Wells Fargo is a buy. buy…