ORACLE BACKS AWAY

Sells 7M of Wells

Warren Buffett is backing slightly away from one of his biggest bets.

Buffett, one of the country’s best known and most successful investors, cut his stake in the embattled Wells Fargo, according to regulatory documents filed on Wednesday.

The move by the Oracle of Omaha comes less than two weeks before the bank holds its annual meeting — where there are calls for most of its board to resign.

Buffett, 86, sold more than 7 million of his 506.3 million shares of the San Francisco bank — and plans to sell 1.8 million more shares, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said in a statement.

Last year, Berkshire had acquired a 10-percent-plus stake in Wells. Berkshire on Wednesday sought to play down the significance of the sale, saying the point was to get out from under increased regulation from the Federal Reserve, which scrutinizes bank shareholders who control double-digit stakes.

But any Buffett move is hyper-analyzed — no matter how small.

Wells Fargo shares fell 1.9 percent — plus another 12 cents in after- hours trading — bringing its 2017 decline to 3.6 percent.

Adding to possible drama over the Buffett move is that the investor started his Wells stock sale on Monday just as the bank issued a 110-page report detailing the responsibility for the fake-accounts scandal that came to light last year — and led to a $185 million regulatory settlement and the ouster of then-Chief Executive John Stumpf.

The bank clawed back $75 million from Stumpf and Carrie Tolstedt, the former head of retail banking.

The Fed’s heightened regulation “would materially restrict our commercial activity with Wells Fargo,” Berkshire said. It did not elaborate.

While the bank has repeatedly apologized for opening millions of unauthorized checking accounts and credit cards, it is still in crisis mode and trying to repair the damage.

Last week, proxy voting firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that 80 percent of Wells’ 15-person board, including the bank’s chairman, lose their jobs for failing to stop its employees from opening the fake accounts.

Still, three analysts covering Wells didn’t think that any board members would lose their seats.

“I don’t expect any director to be thrown out,” Dick Bove, an analyst at Rafferty Capital Markets who put a “sell” rating on the stock Wednesday, told The Post.

“I do not think that any investor or institution has lost any faith in Wells Fargo whatsoever,” he added.

It’s unclear what effect, if any, Buffett’s sale would have on investors.

Berkshire didn’t return a call seeking comment on the board controversy.