April 14 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co reported a strong rebound in first-quarter profit on Wednesday as the bank set aside less money to cover soured loans. The fourth-largest U.S. lender said profit rose to $4.74 billion, or $1.05 per share, in the three months ended March, from $653 million, or 1 penny per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 70 cents per share, according to the IBES estimate from Refinitiv. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and David Henry in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)