Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Information
Wells Fargo & Company is a public company based in the United States and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the stock symbol WFC. Officially the company serves as a financial holding company and a banking holding company. As of 2009 it is a +$100 billion market cap company, making it one of the largest financial institutions in the United States. Some of its largest businesses are wholesale banking and mortgage related services. It also has a large business in consumer finance. The company added a huge piece in the consumer, retail banking field with the purchase of Wachovia Corporation at the end of 2008. This makes community banking one of Wells Fargo’s largest divisions. Wells Fargo Financial, its auto loan and consumer finance division, is its smallest unit, something that is no surprise given the current economic climate.
Through the financial crisis, Wells Fargo remained a dividend earning stock, though the company cut its dividend to investors during 2009 to 5 cents per quarter, generally making the yield less than 1 percent depending on the stock price quote in 2009.
Since it began being publicly traded in 1978, the stock has return nearly 3000%. The company currently operates in 39 states and the District of Columbia, making it a near national American institution.