Deere Boosts Stock Buyback Program By $8 Bln

(RTTNews) - Deere & Co. (DE) said Wednesday that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $8 billion of additional common stock.

The repurchase program will supplement the existing $5 billion share authorization announced in May 2008. On October 31, 2013, there was about $1 billion remaining under the prior authorization.

Deere had about 375 million shares outstanding on October 31, 2013. Since early 2004, the company has repurchased about $11 billion of common stock through its share buyback program. Deere also declared a regular quarterly dividend of $.51 a share on common stock, payable on February 3, 2014 to stockholders of record on December 31, 2013.