Yahoo Finance Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) Repurchases 44.9M Shares Under 400M Plan
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. MUFG declared progress on its share buyback activities. The company announced that from Mar 1, 2024, through Mar 26, it repurchased 44.9 million shares of its common stock for ¥70 billion.
The repurchases were carried out through the company’s ¥400-billion share repurchase program announced on Nov 14, 2023. The plan authorizes MUFG to buy back up to 400 million shares, around 3.31% of the total shares outstanding (excluding treasury stock). The company bought back 300.6 million shares since the authorization through Mar 2024 for ¥399.99 billion. The plan is set to expire on May 31, 2024.
The company seeks to continuously improve shareholders’ returns and increase capital efficiency. Since May 2017, it has completed several share repurchase programs. This is stoking investors’ confidence in the stock. In February 2023, MUFG repurchased shares worth ¥79.7 billion.
Apart from this, MUFG increased its dividend forecast for fiscal 2023 to ¥41 per share from ¥32. Notably, the company’s dividends witnessed a four-year (ended March 2023) compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8%. Thus, by leveraging the capital surplus, MUFG aims to attract investors by a progressive increase in dividends and executing flexible share repurchases.
As of Dec 31, 2023, MUFG had cash and due from banks of ¥106.4 trillion. The company’s borrowed money totaled ¥24.85 trillion. Given a sound balance sheet position, Mitsubishi UFJ’s capital distribution activities seem sustainable.
In the past six months, MUFG shares have gained 18.1% on the NYSE compared with 15.2% growth of the industry it belongs to.
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Currently, MUFG carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Share Buyback Plans of Other Banks
In February, Axos Financial, Inc. AX announced an additional share repurchase program. Per the plan, the company is authorized to buy back up to $100 million worth of shares. There is no specific start or end date for the newly announced plan.
AX’s new share buyback plan supplements the existing repurchase program, which was approved on Apr 26, 2023. As part of the existing plan, it has almost $20 million worth of authorization remaining. AX repurchased $83.2 million worth of shares in the first half of fiscal 2024.
Last month, Zions Bancorporation ZION announced a share repurchase plan for 2024. The plan authorizes the company to buy back up to $35 million worth of shares.
ZION repurchased shares in each of the last three years, indicating an impressive capital distribution plan on the back of anticipated organic growth. The bank repurchased 0.9 million shares in the first nine months of 2023 but refrained from repurchasing any shares in the fourth quarter due to macroeconomic uncertainties.
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