Did Warren Buffett Make a Mistake When He Sold This Stock? The Company Is on the Precipice of a Monumental Achievement
Warren Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, first acquired a stake in the large U.S. bank Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) in 1990. Berkshire would go on to hold the stock for another 32 years, with many market watchers often describing the relationship as a love affair. However, when the phony-accounts scandal rocked Wells Fargo in 2016, Buffett's patience with the bank began to wear thin. In 2019, Berkshire began to cut its position in Wells Fargo and the large conglomerate exited the stock in 2022. Although it hasn't been an easy ride for Wells Fargo, the bank has seen its stock rip higher since Berkshire exited and is now on the precipice of a monumental achievement. Did Buffett make a mistake in selling Wells Fargo?In 2016 it was discovered that employees at Wells Fargo had opened millions of bank and credit card accounts without customer permission in order to meet performance quotas. In the years to follow, regulators would slap the fourth-largest bank in the U.S. with many consent orders and billions in fines. In 2018, the Federal Reserve placed a $1.95 trillion asset cap on Wells Fargo, effectively preventing the bank from expanding its balance sheet, a key way banks increase profits. Since then, Wells Fargo has significantly trailed its peers on asset growth.Continue reading
Warren Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, first acquired a stake in the large U.S. bank Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) in 1990. Berkshire would go on to hold the stock for another 32 years, with many market watchers often describing the relationship as a love affair. However, when the phony-accounts scandal rocked Wells Fargo in 2016, Buffett's patience with the bank began to wear thin. In 2019, Berkshire began to cut its position in Wells Fargo and the large conglomerate exited the stock in 2022. Although it hasn't been an easy ride for Wells Fargo, the bank has seen its stock rip higher since Berkshire exited and is now on the precipice of a monumental achievement. Did Buffett make a mistake in selling Wells Fargo?
In 2016 it was discovered that employees at Wells Fargo had opened millions of bank and credit card accounts without customer permission in order to meet performance quotas. In the years to follow, regulators would slap the fourth-largest bank in the U.S. with many consent orders and billions in fines. In 2018, the Federal Reserve placed a $1.95 trillion asset cap on Wells Fargo, effectively preventing the bank from expanding its balance sheet, a key way banks increase profits. Since then, Wells Fargo has significantly trailed its peers on asset growth.
