June 5, 2009 - At its 39th Annual Shareholders’ Meeting today, WalMart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program that gives the company authorization to repurchase $15 billion of its shares. This program replaces the previous $15 billion program, which was announced June 1, 2007 and had approximately $3.4 billion of remaining authorization. Under the program, repurchased shares are constructively retired and returned to unissued status.
"We remain committed to returning value to our shareholders through share repurchase and dividends," said Mike Duke, WalMart Stores, Inc. president and chief executive officer. “During the last five years, WalMart has repurchased approximately $21 billion worth of its shares."
In addition to share repurchases made in fiscal year 2010, WalMart will pay more than $4.2 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends during fiscal year 2010. WalMart has increased its dividend every year since March of 1974, when it began paying a dividend of five cents per share. The company is paying an annual dividend of $1.09 per share this fiscal year, a 15-percent increase from $0.95 paid last year.
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