Thursday's Financial Winners & Losers

Frontier Financial(FTBK Quote) gained after the Washington-based bank declared a 3-for-2 stock split and approved a share buyback.

The stock split will be open to shareholders of record as of Sept. 12. The company's board also approved a plan to buy back up to 5% of the company's shares over the next two years. Frontier also upped its quarterly dividend by 25% to 15 cents a share. Shares gained $1.61, or 4.06%, to $41.30.

Shares of American Financial Realty(AFR Quote) slid after the Jenkintown, Pa.-based real estate investment trust announced a series of drastic moves, including the resignation of the firm's CEO and the slashing of its dividend.

The REIT said Nicholas Schorsch resigned as CEO by "mutual agreement.'' The company named Harold Pote, a board member and former vice chairman of retail financial services for JP Morgan Chase(JPM Quote), as its new CEO.

American Financial also said it will "reposition" itself by accelerating asset sales that could result in gross proceeds of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The company cut its quarterly dividend to 19 cents from 27 cents, and said it plans to close its New York office. The various moves are expected to result in restructuring charges of $23 million to $27 million. Shares fell 56 cents, or 5%, to $10.65.

Annaly Capital Management(NLY Quote) slipped after the New York-based REIT priced a stock offering of 35.5 million shares at $12.30 each.