The U.S. regional bank Comerica Inc. (NYSE:CMA), which just got through the stress test by Federal Reserve on Wednesday, announced it plans to repurchase up to $375 million worth of stock, and is considering substantially increasing its quarterly dividend.
The bank said the Fed is not opposed to the capital plan of its board of directors. The new stock repurchase program will be carried out during the first quarter of this year, and expires in the first quarter of 2013. This program also includes the authorization to redeem $25 million worth of trust preferred securities.
The bank said its board of directors expects to raise its quarterly dividend by 50 percent to 15 cents per share from 10 cents per share during the meeting on April 24. Comerica has bought back approximately $110 million worth of stock last year.
The Comerica stock price edged up 10.7 percent, or $0.34, to close at $32.10 per share.
CMA - Comerica stock price