Wells Fargo & Co , the fourth-largest U.S. bank, posted a higher quarterly profit as it put aside less money for bad loans.

Net income due to common stockholders rose to $3.57 billion, or 67 cents per share, from $2.37 billion, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $20.33 billion from $21.45 billion.

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 66 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company cut the amount of money it is holding for bad loans to $2.21 billion from $5.33 billion a year earlier.

Wells Fargo shares fell 1.7 percent to $29.55 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Philipp Gollner in San Francisco and Clare Baldwin in New York; editing by John Wallace)