Aetna (AET +0.00%) is attempting to ensure the value of its stock by announcing a pair of potentially share price-boosting moves. Firstly, the company has declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.20 per share, to be paid on October 25 to shareholders of record as of September 27. That amount matches each of the firm's preceding three distributions, the most recent of which was paid at the end of July. Prior to that, Aetna dispensed $0.175 per share.
The upcoming dividend annualizes to $0.80 per share. That yields 1.2% at Aetna's most recent closing stock price of $64.48.
The second measure is an expansion of the insurer's share repurchase program by $750 million. This is on top of the roughly $326 million remaining from the most recent buyback authorization.
Currently, Aetna has just over 372 million shares outstanding.
