Just a decade ago, the banking sector was in crisis. Today, sitting on mountains of excess capital, large-cap banks have gotten the green light from regulators to boost dividends and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:share repurchases. Pursuant to the 2017 CCAR (Capital Analysis and Review) "澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:stress test" by the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Federal Reserve, banks received "the strongest increase in capital deployment since the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:financial crisis," according to Marty Mosby, director of bank and  equity strategy at 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:institutional 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:brokerage firm Vining Sparks IBG L⛄LC, as reported by Barro🎃n's.

Tax reform, which will increase earnings and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:cash flow, is another impetus to bigger dividend payouts. Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) expect aver💞age bank dividend increases of 38% in 2018 and 26% in 2019, for an average two-year increase of 74%. Mosby is more conservative, with respective projections of 25%, 20%, and 50%. An added bonus: bank stocks held up be🦹tter than the market averages in the recent selloff. 

10 Banks to Watch

According to research by JPMorgan Chase & Co., as reported in Barron's, 10 big banks look especially attractive to dividend-oriented investors. Here they are, with their year-to-date price changes through February 14, current dividend yields as of February 14, and projected cumulative dividend growth through 2019, per JPMorgan Chase:

• Bank of America Corp. (BAC): +8.4% YTD; 1.5% yield; 126% dividend growth through 2019
• BB&T Corp. (BBT): +10.1% YTD; 2.4% yield; 38% dividend growth through 2019
• Citigroup Inc. (C): +3.1% YTD; 1.7% yield; 158% dividend growth through 2019
• Citizens Financial Group Inc. (CFG): +9.2% YTD; 1.9% yield; 94% dividend growth through 2019
• Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB): +9.6% YTD; 1.9% yield; 87% dividend growth through 2019
• PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC): +9.7% YTD; 1.9% yield; 73% dividend growth through 2019
• Regions Financial Corp. (RF): +12.1 YTD; 1.9% yield; 110% dividend growth through 2019
• SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI): +8.5% YTD; 2.3% yield; 71% dividend growth through 2019
• U.S. Bancorp (USB): +3.2% YTD; 2.2% yield; 41% dividend growth through 2019
• Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC): -1.9% YTD; 2.6% yield; 22% dividend growth through 2019

By comparison, the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:S&P 500 Index (SPX) is up by 0.9% for𒐪 the year-to-date, and has a dividend yield of approximately 2.0%, per Barron's.

Relaxed Regulation

Until recently, regulators had forced banks to keep their 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:dividend payout ratios at 30% or lower, Mosby tells Barron's. With the sector returning to health, and regulators approving massive returns of capital to shareholders, these ratios are rising. By 2019, the median payout ratio for the 10 banks listed above will be about 40%, per JPMorgღan Chase's projections.

In addition to dividend increases, banks have been buying back their own shares more aggressively. The result, Mosby says, is that large-cap banks now have about 5% fewer 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:shares outstanding than they did two years ago, and this trend is accelerat💧ing, with regulatory approval.

Selected Stories

Bank of America was one of the most troubled institutions during the financial crisis, but now profits are growing briskly. JPMorgan forecasts that EPS will rise by 54% in 2018 and by an additional 13% in 2019, for a cumulative increase of 74%. That should provide amp🌸le coverage for dividend hikes. In particular, BofA should benefit from expense savings and gre♛ater sensitivity to interest rates than many rivals, JPMorgan says, per Barron's.

Citizens Financial has been improving a variety of key metrics. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Return on equity has been rising from 5.1% in 2016, to 6.5% in 2017, and to a projected 8.1% in 2018, per JPMorgan and Barron's. The bank's 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:efficiency ratio, which compares 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:noninterest expense to total revenue, dropped from 63.1% in ♋2016 to 60.2% in 2017, per both sources.&nb🐭sp;

At the other end of the spectrum, Wells Fargo continues to be plagued by past scandals, as well as slow revenue growth. These scandals include the opening of fake customer accounts, wrongfully 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:force-placing auto insurance on customers, and overcharging military veterans on VA loans. The bill for fines and restitution on these scandals has grown to at 💖least $373 million, .

'Safer Than The Market'

That's the headline of about bank stocks. During the 10.2% 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:correction in the S&P 500 from January 26 through February 8, bank stocks fell by only 8.9%, according to Chris Verrone, a partner at institutional brokerage firm Strategas Investment Partners. In fact, the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) performed even better, down just 7.1%, per Verrone. This was the first time since the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Dotcom Crash&🔜nbsp;of 2000–02 that banks outperformed in a selloff of 10% or more, when the S&P 500 fell by 49.1% and bank🦩s declined by 24.2%, as he told Barron's. 

The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Investopedia Anxiety Index ☂(IAI) continues to record high levels of worry about the markets among our 27 million readers worldwide. As of the open on February 15, the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index (BKX) was up by 6.6% for the year-to-date, versus 1.5% fo💖r the S&P 500, per Yahoo Finance.