Stock repurchase refers to when a company buys back its own shares from shareholders. This means that the company uses its own money to purchase shares of its stock, reducing the number of shares available in the open market. The goal of a
stock repurchase is often to increase the value of the remaining shares by boosting earnings per share and signaling that the company believes its stock is undervalued.
Full definition
Citigroup was the highlight after hours, doubling its quarterly dividend to 32 cents per common share and announcing a common
stock repurchase program of up to $ 15.6 billion.
Another puzzle surrounding dividends is the aggressive growth of
stock repurchase plans in preference to cash dividends.
Other shareholder friendly moves include a targeted $ 2 billion
in stock repurchases through midyear.
In 2004, companies brought back some $ 362 billion from overseas but used it primarily to reward investors
through stock repurchases, dividends and mergers and acquisitions.
The cash Cisco spent
on stock repurchases over the past five years amounted to 46 percent of its cash flow from operations.
Facebook already attempted to create a
common stock repurchase program once before, but finding an acceptable valuation was too difficult, and the program was shelved.
In their December 2012 draft paper entitled «The Persistence of Long - Run Abnormal Stock Returns: Evidence
from Stock Repurchases and Offerings», Fangjian Fu and Sheng Huang compare recent (2003 - 2010) long - run abnormal returns following U.S. corporate stock buyback and Seasoned Equity Offering (SEO) announcements to those in older data (1985 - 2002).
«The companies in which we have our largest investments have all engaged in
significant stock repurchases at times when wide discrepancies exist between price and value.
Part 1: Combined
stock repurchases by U.S. public companies have reached record levels, a Reuters analysis finds, but as the recent history of such iconic businesses as Hewlett - Packard and IBM suggests, showering cash on shareholders may exact a long - term toll.
As a result, consumer staples stocks tend to be slow - growing businesses that generate plenty of excess cash — money that they mainly give to shareholders through dividend payments and
stock repurchase spending.
Apple's cash flow statements show it has spent nearly $ 200 billion on
stock repurchases over the past five years, which works out at 57 percent of its cash flow from operations for the period.
As corporate America engages in an unprecedented buyback binge, soaring CEO pay tied to short - term performance measures like EPS is prompting criticism that executives are
using stock repurchases to enrich themselves at the expense of long - term corporate health, capital investment and employment.
In years like 2008, ExxonMobil brought in $ 35 billion while only allocating $ 20 billion
towards stock repurchases and dividend payments to shareholders.
It should be equally telling, though, that he has dramatically slowed down the level of
stock repurchases since 2013.
DRAD has also now started to buy back stock under its previously announced $
2M stock repurchase plan.
It was an unfortunate development, especially
considering stock repurchases have been a beacon of hope during the toughest times for equities, providing appreciation even when the market was devoid of other positive catalysts.
Lately, the sheer volume of buybacks has prompted complaints among academics, politicians and investors that
massive stock repurchases are stifling innovation and hurting U.S. competitiveness — and contributing to widening income inequality by rewarding executives with ever higher pay, often divorced from a company's underlying performance.
Can investors
exploit stock repurchase and issuance activity to predict market reaction to the next firm earnings release?
In the U.S., the aggregate value of
stock repurchases grew to match the aggregate value of dividends as of 1998.
McDonald's has delivered $ 4.5 billion to shareholders through dividends and
stock repurchases so far this year, which is just a small part of the $ 23 billion that it expects to pay out between 2017 and 2019.
P&G sent $ 3.2 billion to shareholders during the quarter, with $ 1.8 billion coming from its recently increased dividend and $ 1.4 billion directed
toward stock repurchases.
The Spark's Board also authorized an increase in the availability under its
existing stock repurchase plan to $ 5.0 M, up from $ 2.6 M at the end of 2015.
To
count stock repurchases as if they are some sort of «hidden» payment in addition to dividends is double - counting.
Source: FactSet Research Systems Inc., Russell Investment Group, and Heartland Advisors, Inc. * Weighted average ** Weighted average, and Dun & Bradstreet is excluded because its open
market stock repurchases have made the company's total equity negative, resulting in an excessively high debt ratio that is not reflective of D&B's investment grade credit rating based on Heartland Advisors» beliefs
With
CAT stock repurchase this will help reduce the share float, and will help with earnings per share.
The decreases in other income, net for both the three and six months ended October 31, 2008 were primarily attributable to lower average cash balances, due in large part to the $ 41 million
stock repurchase which was completed in the latter half of second quarter of fiscal 2008, as well as lower average returns on our invested cash due to the shift in our investment portfolio from auction rate securities to more liquid money funds.
M shares of its common stock, at a total cost of $ 1.0 M, and had allocated approximately a further $ 1.1 M to fund possible
future stock repurchases.
The increase in cash is primarily the result of proceeds from the maturity of a short - term investment, cash provided by operating activities and available - for - sale securities, partially offset by cash used
in stock repurchases, the payment of dividends, capital expenditures and a long - term investment.»
Stock prices would improve as well, and that's fine during the boom cycle, for then, but many would issue expensive hybrid junior debt with an
accelerated stock repurchase.
The firm's plan also includes an up to $ 11.5 billion of
common stock repurchases, compared to $ 8.3 billion in share repurchases in the four quarters ended in the first quarter of 2017.