Wells Fargo to raise dividend by 25%

Shares of Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, +1.03% rose 0.4% in afternoon trading Tuesday, after the bank said it will raise its quarterly dividend by 25%. For shareholders of record on Feb. 4, the bank will pay out on March 1 a dividend of 25 cents a share, up from 20 cents in the previous quarter. Based on current stock prices, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 1.87%, compared with the yield for the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF XLF, +0.26% of 1.66% and the implied yield for the S&P 500 SPX, -0.15% of 1.42%. “As I’ve said before, returning capital to shareholders is a priority and today’s dividend increase reflects that,” said Chief Executive Charlie Scharf. “We’ve made significant changes across the company which have improved our financial performance and I’m pleased that we are now in a position to increase the dividend.” The stock has gained 5.8% over the past three months, while the financial ETF has declined 5.3% and the S&P 500 has lost 4.3%.