PHILADELPHIA -- CoreStates Financial Corp. raised its quarterly dividend to 60 cents a share from 54 cents a share.
The dividend is payable Oct. 1 to shareholders of record on Sept. 7.
CoresStates also declared a 2-for-1 stock split, payable on Oct. 15 to shareholders of record on Sept. 15. The new dividend rate is equal to 30 cents a share on a post-split basis.
The company's board also approved a stock repurchase program to buy shares on the open market from time to time. CoresStates said the maximum number of shares that could be repurchased in a year would be 2% of the total outstanding.
CoresStates said the stock purchases would be in addition to those made for its dividend-reinvestment, employee-benefit, and incentive-compensation programs. CoresStates has 58.7 million shares outstanding.
