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• Wells Fargo reported its financial results for the fourth quarter on Friday.
• Here's what its chief executive said in the earnings press release today.
• Wells Fargo stock is trending down in premarket trading on Friday.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), on January 12^th, reported a 9.0% increase in its fourth-quarter net income on the back of a 17% jump in noninterest income.
 

Why is Wells Fargo stock trending down?

The financial services behemoth saw its net income come in at $3.44 billion – down 40% versus the previous quarter. On a per-share basis, Wells Fargo earned 86 cents in its Q4. Charlie Scharf – its chief executive said in a press release today:

 

We continue to execute on our strategic priorities. We are starting to see improved growth and increased market share in parts of the company which we believe will drive higher returns over time.

At $20.47 billion, the revenue of the New York listed firm printed up 2.2% versus a year ago but down nearly 2.0% versus the third quarter. The consensus was for Wells Fargo to earn 86 cents a share on $20.30 billion in revenue.

Shares of Wells Fargo & Co are trading slightly down in the premarket following the earnings print on Friday.
 

What else was noteworthy in WFC earnings?

Other notable figures in the earnings report include a 34% year-on-year increase in provision for credit losses to $1.28 billion. Wells Fargo noted a 1.1% decline in overall loans to $938 million while deposits edged down 2.9% to $1.34 billion. CEO Scharf also said on Friday:

“Our business performance remains sensitive to interest rates and the health of the U.S. economy but … our capital position remains strong and returning excess capital to shareholders remains a priority.”

The multinational bank saw annualized growth in revenue from all of its segments in the fourth quarter except for Wealth & Investment Management. Note that Wells Fargo had warned of a sizable severance expense in Q4 last month as Invezz reported here.

Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on $WFC.

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