Wells Fargo repays government bailout

A pedestrian walks past a Wells Fargo & Co bank in San Francisco, California, April 22, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co, the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, on Wednesday said it repaid the $25 billion government bailout it received during the financial crisis, after last week selling $12.25 billion in stock.

Wells Fargo also paid dividends of $131.9 million to the government as part of the repayment, it said in a statement. The bank has paid $1.44 billion in dividends on the government's investment since it took the bailout, it said.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo was among the last of the largest banks to repay bailout money received from the government during the crisis in 2008.

Bank of America Corp earlier this month returned $45 billion it took under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, and Citigroup Inc last week sold $20 billion in stock and bonds to help repay its bailout.

The U.S. Treasury still holds warrants to buy about 110 million shares in Wells Fargo, the bank said.

Wells Fargo shares fell about 22 cents to $26.94 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; editing by John Wallace)