CLEVELAND (Jan. 26) — Parker Hannifin Corp.´s board of directors has authorized the repurchase of additional shares of common stock, bringing the total shares available for repurchase to $10 million.
This authorization is a continuation of the company´s ongoing share repurchase program. Prior to the new authorization, only 4.7 million shares remained available for repurchase under the program, the company said.
Share repurchases each fiscal year are limited to the greater of 5 million shares or 5 percent of the shares outstanding at the end of the prior fiscal year.
"Our share repurchase program gives us the flexibility to offset the dilutive effect of shares issued under employee stock incentive plans," said Don Washkewicz, Parker chairman, CEO and president. "The updated authorization also gives us the potential to repurchase Parker shares on an opportunistic basis."
The 10 million shares available for repurchase represent approximately 8.6 percent of the company´s current outstanding shares, Parker said. Any repurchases would be funded from operating cash flow, and the shares would initially be held as treasury stock.
In other company news, Parker has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 26 cents per share of common stock, payable March 2, to shareholders of record as of February 15.
It will be the company´s 227th consecutive quarterly dividend and comprises a distribution of approximately $30 million. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for 50 consecutive years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index, the company said.