Lockheed Martin [LMT] yesterday said its board of directors has approved a new share repurchase program of up to $3 billion.
The new stock buy back proram will replace the company’s 2002 repurchase program effective Nov. 1. Lockheed Martin said the existing program, in which it has repurchased 169 million shares of its common stock out of the existing share authoriation of 178 million shares, is largely completed.
“This step, coupled with our 19 percent dividend increase last month, demonstrates our strong commitment to further enhancing stockholder value through balanced cash deployment,” Robert Stevens, Lockheed Martin’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We remain committed to returning at least 50 percent of annual free cash to stockholders through dividends and share repurchases.”