Wal-Mart (WMT -0.18%) announced today during its annual shareholder meeting that its board has approved a $15 billion share repurchase program.
This new authorization is old hat for Wal-Mart. The corporation passed a similar program in June 2011 and, as of June 6, had just $712 million remaining on that. The company credits its strong cash flow as the primary push behind its repurchase program. Wal-Mart also made mention of its newly increased (to the tune of 18%) dividend as another means for returning capital to its shareholders.
WMT Dividend data by YCharts.
"Together, we returned $6.2 billion to shareholders year-to-date during fiscal 2014, including the recent payment of our second quarter dividend," said CFO Charles Holley in a statement today. "And during the last 10 years, Walmart returned nearly $100 billion to shareholders. We also increased our dividend every year since March of 1974, when we began paying a dividend of 5 cents per share."
