First Horizon National Corp.'s (NYSE:FHN) is increasing its quarterly cash dividend on common stock by 33 percent. First Horizon’s board of directors has approved payment of a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of $0.12 per share payable on April 2, 2018 to the common shareholders of record on March 9, 2018. The per-share quarterly cash dividend in 2017 was $0.09 so the increase raises the regular annual common dividend rate from $0.36 per share to $0.48 per share.
The board of directors has also approved payment of a quarterly cash dividend of $1,550.00 per share on FHN's Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series A ("Series A Preferred Stock").
This equates to a cash dividend of $0.387500 per Depositary Share (NYSE:FHN PrA), which each represent a 1/4000th interest in a share of the Series A Preferred Stock. The dividend is payable on April 10, 2018, to shareholders of record on March 23, 2018.
In addition, the board of directors approved a new $250 million common share purchase program that will expire on January 31, 2020. Purchases will be made in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions and will be subject to market conditions, accumulation of excess equity, prudent capital management, and legal and regulatory restrictions. The new program is not tied to any compensation plan, and replaces an older general share purchase program. The board terminated the older program, which was originally announced in 2014, had approximately $190 million remaining in available share purchase authority, and was scheduled to expire on January 31, 2018.