WOONSOCKET – The board of directors of CVS/Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) today approved the repurchase of up to $5 billion in outstanding common stock.
The company said the buyback authorization allows it to acquire the shares from time to time via open-market purchases, private transactions and/or accelerated share repurchases.
“We expect to repurchase shares as appropriate throughout the rest of this year, further optimizing our capital structure,” said Dave Rickard, CVS/Caremark vice president and chief financial officer.
The company predicted the buyback would result in average totals of about 1.6 billion shares of common stock in the second quarter and 1.4 billion for all of 2007. The program may be modified, extended or terminated by the board at any time.
CVS/Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) operates 6,200 CVS/pharmacy stores; the CVS.com online pharmacy, Caremark Pharmacy Services, a benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy division; and the MinuteClinic retail-based health care clinics. Additional information is available at investor.cvs.com.
