Mega bank Wells Fargo & Co. ($33.68 -0.57%) posted a third-quarter profit of $4.9 billion, or 88 cents a share, up from $4.6 billion, or 82 cents a share, last year.

The company’s profit grew as the loans in its portfolio rose another $11.9 billion, driven by the firm’s mortgage and deposit businesses.

Mortgage lending alone became more robust with $139 billion in mortgage originations recorded at Wells Fargo during the period, up from $131 billion in the prior period. Applications, on the other hand, fell to $188 billion compared to $208 billion in the last quarter.

The total residential mortgage servicing portfolio reached $1.9 trillion during the period.

“Through the efforts of our more than 265,000 team members, we’ve now achieved six consecutive quarters of record net income and EPS,” said Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stumpf. “By focusing on earning all of our customers’ business and providing outstanding service, we continued to generate growth across our diversified set of businesses. In the third quarter, core loans grew by $11.9 billion and we saw continued strength in our mortgage and deposit businesses.”

Growth stemming from asset management, commercial mortgage servicing, lending and the real estate capital markets also contributed to Wells Fargo’s third-quarter revenue. The bank’s revenue hit $21.2 billion, down slightly from $21.3 billion in the second quarter.

via housingwire.com