Wells Fargo (WFC) said Wednesday that it has completed its repayment of $25 billion in funds to the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, after last week selling $12.25 billion in stock.
The bank also said that it paid accrued dividends of $131.9 million, bringing the total dividends paid to the U.S. Treasury and U.S. taxpayers to $1.441 billion since the preferred stock was issued in October 2008.
“With repayment of the TARP investment, we can intensify our focus on what we do best: helping consumers and businesses achieve financial success,” said Wells Fargo President and CEO John Stumpf in a statement. “We thank the U.S. government and taxpayers for their support of our financial system at a critical time for our nation.”
The U.S. Treasury still holds warrants to buy about 110 million shares of Wells Fargo stock at an exercise price of $34.01 a share.
By repaying TARP, San Francisco-based Wells will be able to eliminate $1.25 billion in annual preferred stock dividends that would have been paid to the Treasury, which will be slightly accretive to earnings per share in 2010.
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