Bank of America Corp. shares BAC,
gained 1.2% in pre-market trading on Tuesday after the bank said it authorized the repurchase of $ 2.9 billion in common shares through March 31. The bank also announced a regular quarterly dividend of 18 cents per share, to be paid on March 26 to shareholders registered on March 5. The announcements come before BofA’s fourth quarter report, which is due to be released on Tuesday. The bank said it is the maximum allowed for the period, according to guidelines established by the Federal Reserve. Based on Friday’s closing price of $ 33.01, this repurchase program could represent up to 87.85 million shares, or about 1% of the outstanding shares. BofA’s shares rose 39.2% in the last three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 SPX,
gained 10.0%.
