APPLE HAS REPURCHASED more $14 billion of its own shares within the last two weeks.
With this purchase, the company has bought back more than $40 billion of its own shares over the past twelve months.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal it recently bought $12 billion of the shares through an “accelerated” repurchase program, and $2 billion on the open market. The buy back is part of Apple’s plan to buy back $60 billion of its own shares.
Cook said that he wanted to be “aggressive” and “opportunistic” with the buybacks and that the $40 billion worth of shares purchased was a record for any company over a similar span.
It means that we are betting on Apple. It means that we are really confident on what we are doing and what we plan to do… We’re not just saying that. We’re showing that with our actions.
Cook said Apple was “surprised” by the eight per cent decline in its share price the day after it gave its earnings report.
Apple reported a profit of $13.1 billion during the last quarter of 2013, where it sold 51 million iPhones and 26 million iPads. However, a weaker-than-expected forecast saw its share price fall.
The company has also been facing pressure from one of its main shareholders, Carl Icahn, to increase the size of its share buyback to deliver more cash to shareholders.
Ichan, who owns roughly $4 billion in Apple shares, is asking shareholders to vote on his proposal that the company buys an additional $50 billion of its own shares by the end of September. Apple will be holding its shareholder meeting on 28th February.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say