WASHINGTON — The government has received $320.3 million from the sale of warrants it held from PNC Financial Services Group as part of the support it provided the bank during the financial crisis.

The Treasury Department said today that it sold 16.9 million warrants in an auction with a sales price of $19.20 per warrant. Warrants are financial instruments that allow the holder to buy stock in the future at a fixed price.

Financial institutions have been eager to cut all ties to the $700 billion bailout program, known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program, to escape various restrictions imposed on institutions receiving government support including limitations on executive compensation.

PNC, which is based in Pittsburgh, received $7.6 billion in government support from the bailout fund in December 2008.

The $19.20 auction price was above the $15 per warrant minimum bid price that had been set by Treasury.

PNC is the first warrant auction among a group of six banks that includes Wells Fargo, Comerica, Valley National Bancorp, Sterling Bancshares and First Financial Bancorp.

The warrant auctions are held when Treasury and the banks cannot agree on a price for the warrants. The warrants are designed to give taxpayers an additional return on the government's investment.