After the stress tests, come the tears and the gloating.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday denied the requests of five banks, including Citigroup (NYSE:C), to return more capital to their investors. But the central bank gave the green light to the capital plans of 25 other big financial firms, which quickly scurried to announce a spate of dividend hikes and share buyback programs. Here are some of the announcements from Wednesday afternoon:
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) will increase its quarterly dividend to 40 cents per share, from 38 cents, and announced a $6.5 billion share buyback program through the next year.
Bank of America (BAC) is no longer in the penny-dividend club. The nations second-largest bank will increase its quarterly dividend for the first time since the financial crisis, to 5 cents per share. The Fed also approved its plan to repurchase $4 billion in common stock.
Wells Fargo (WFC) will raise its dividend by 5 cents, to 35 cents per share, and will buy back an additional 350 million shares as part of its common stock repurchase program.
American Express (AXP) will increase its dividend by 3 cents, to 26 cents per share. The credit card company also won approval to buy back up to $4.4 billion of common shares this year and up to an additional $1 billion in the first quarter of 2015.
U.S. Bancorp (USB) will increase its quarterly dividend by 1.5 cents to 24.5 cents per common share. It plans to repurchase up to $2.3 billion of its common stock over the next year.
KeyCorp (KEY), which passed with a Tier 1 common capital ratio of 8%, said the Fed approved its capital plan, which includes a $542 million stock-buyback plan. The Cleveland bank was cautious with its common dividend, boosting it to $0.065 per share from $0.055.
