American River Bankshares Board Gives Its Approval For Increased Stock Buyback Program (AMRB)

American River Bankshares

revealed that its board has given its approval for increased share buyback program. According to the company, its board gave a 5% target for the current year in January. Following this, shares of the company traded higher on Thursday. American River Bankshares disclosed that it acquired 5% of its outstanding shares in the first quarter successfully at an average cost of $10.29 a share. The company indicated that the increased authorization of the repurchase is for an additional 5% of the outstanding shares of its common stock for the current year. The Company said that its earlier authorization reflected a stock repurchase program in 2015 with a repurchase target of about 10%, which followed stock repurchase programs in 2012, 2013, and 2014. American River's President and CEO, David Taber, said that "This is the second year in a row that we have announced a mid-year increase in our stock repurchase program. We had a strong increase in our bottom line and the repurchase program helped contribute to the 58% increase in earnings per share from the first quarter of 2015." Shares traded 2.68% higher on Thursday following the news.