Target Boosts Share Buyback To $10 Billion, Raises Quarterly Dividend

on Tuesday announced that its Board of Directors approved an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.56 per share from the prior quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share. The dividend is payable September 10 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 19. The dividend hike marks the 44th consecutive year in which the company increased its annual dividend. The third quarter dividend will also mark the 192nd consecutive quarterly dividend paid since October 1967. In addition to the dividend hike, the company's Board of Directors approved an expansion of its current share repurchase authorization from $5 billion to $10 billion. Through the first quarter of 2015, the company acquired 56.9 million of its own shares at an average price of $65.06, marking an investment of $3.7 billion. "Today's announcements reinforce Target's long history of thoughtfully returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchase," said John Mulligan, Target's executive vice president and CFO in a

. "Our capital deployment priorities have been consistent for many years and remain the same today. The executive continued that the company has a two-pronged approach to supporting shares. First, the company invests in its core business through projects that support its strategic and financial goals. Second, the company commits to maintaining its "long-standing record" of annual dividend increases. Mulligan also noted that given the company's outlook for capital expenditures and the "strong" cash generation of the core business, he expects to have the capacity to increase the annual dividend and repurchase billions of dollars of Target shares annually while maintaining its current credit rating.