BankAmerica to Increase Stock Buyback

BankAmerica Corp. said it plans to buy back an additional $650 million in common and preferred shares by the end of 1998. It also increased its dividend and revised its stock option plan for senior executives to raise incentives for share performance. LastMarch, the San Francisco-based bank said it would buy back as much as $2 billion of its common stock and $1 billion of its preferred stock by the end of 1997. The company had 365.5 million shares outstanding at the end of 1996. BankAmerica announced the buyback increase after the close of trading. Shares rose $1.375 to close at $114.625 on the New York Stock Exchange. The bank also increased the quarterly dividend on its common shares 13% to 61 cents, boosting its annual yield to 2.12%.