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Several bank stocks fell on Friday morning despite announcements in their capital plans, released Thursday night, that they would increase payout to shareholders.
JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) were both trading down after the Federal Reserve approved them to pay dividends and buy back stock but expressed concerns about their capital planning. The Fed gave JPMorgan permission to buy back $6 billion worth of stock over the next 12 months and raise its dividend 26%, to 38 cents a share, but it stock was down early Friday. Goldman, which did not release details of its capital plan, was down 0.6%.
BB&T (BBT), the only publicly traded company that didn't get the Fed's approval, dropped over 2% Friday morning. It said it plans to submit a revised capital plan shortly. Ally Financial was the other bank that failed to receive the Fed's approval.
Citigroup (NYSE: C), which received approval to buy back $1.2 billion worth of stock in its first repurchase since 2007, fell around 1% on Friday morning.
The biggest gainer was Bank of America (BAC), whose shares were up nearly 3.5% after the Fed approved its plan to buy back $5 billion in stock and redeem $5.5 billion in preferred shares.
The markets also approved of Wells Fargo (WFC) and Morgan Stanley (MS), both of which saw rises of around 2% early Friday after announcing that they would increase their return to shareholders. Morgan Stanley's plan included the purchase of the remaining 35% stake in the brokerage Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Wells Fargo said it would raise its dividend by 5 cents, to 30 cents a share, and increase its buyback, though it didn't provide details.
American Express (AXP) also saw a nearly 2% rise, after the Fed approved its plan to buy back $4 billion worth of stock and increase its dividend by 3 cents, to 23 cents a share. The Fed had asked American Express to re-submit its capital plan last week after expressing concern with its first submission.
Other banks whose stock fell in early trading included Zions Bancorp (ZION) and SunTrust Banks (STI), which were both down nearly 2%. Zions said the Fed only partially approved its plan to redeem preferred shares, while SunTrust's plan to raise its dividend and increase its stock repurchase fell short of analysts' expectations.
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