Open source software provider Red Hat (RHT) will be buying back up to $300 million worth of company stock, the board of directors announced Monday.
Having recently completed a $300 million repurchase program, the board will take advantage of various opportunities to buy back additional shares. The final $179 million spent under the previous authorization came after the end of its last quarter (Feb. 28), at an average price of $49.15 per share for a total of 3.6 million shares. The company has repurchased 5.9 million shares over the past 13 months, equivalent to 3% of shares outstanding as of Feb. 28.
"Our management team and board of directors have a strong conviction in our long-term growth prospects and our ability to generate profits and cash flow," Red Hat executive VP and CFO Charlie Peters said. "We believe that stock repurchases demonstrate our commitment to building shareholder value as well as confidence in achieving long-term growth."
The repurchase program will be funded using Red Hat's working capital. As of Feb. 28, the software specialist had cash and investments of approximately $1.3 billion and approximately 193.0 million shares of common stock outstanding. The chart below does not include repurchases after Feb. 28, 2013.
RHT Stock Buybacks data by YCharts.
