Walgreens Announces $2 Billion Buy Back

Walgreens WAG today announced the largest quarterly dividend increase in the history of the company, an increase of 28.6 percent to 22.5 cents per share from the previous 17.5 cents per share. The board has now authorized a $2 billion share repurchase plan, to expire December 31 2015. This move comes fast after Walgreens completes a $1 billion buy back that was announced in October of last year. “This is our third share repurchase program announced since October 2009. Since then, we have completed $3 billion in share repurchases and paid $1.1 billion in dividends to shareholders,” said Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson. “We have continued to deliver on our commitment to return cash to our shareholders consistent with our capital policy guidelines.” This morning's trading had Walgreen shares up 1.6 percent to $43.23.