Huntington Bancshares announced plans Wednesday to repurchase shares of common stock and continue its current common stock dividend.

Huntington said the Federal Reserve had no objection to its plans to buy back up to $182 million shares of common stock. The Columbus-based company is the fifth largest bank institution by deposits of $2.1 billion in the Cincinnati metro region and the sixth largest bank by deposits of $584.8 million in the Dayton metro region, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The results of the Federal Reserve’s “stress test” released Tuesday led several of the largest banks in the region to announce stock repurchases and plans to increase dividends to shareholders, including JP Morgan Chase & Co. and U.S. Bank. Fifteen of the 19 largest bank holding companies in the U.S. passed the Federal Reserve’s test of performance in the case of a severe economic downturn, including Fifth Third, JP Morgan Chase, KeyCorp, PNC Financial Services Group and U.S. Bancorp.

Fifth Third Bank of Cincinnati, also one of the largest banks in the region, said it plans to continue its quarterly common stock dividend of .08 cents per share, redeem up to $1.4 billion in certain trust preferred securities and repurchase common stock shares.

Dividends and stock repurchases benefit shareholders, said Steve Wyatt, chair of the finance department of Miami University. A stock buyback allows investors who wish to sell their shares to sell it back to the company.

“What they’re doing is giving cash back to their shareholders in one form or another,” Wyatt said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.