Johnson & Johnson To Buy Back Up To $10 Bln Of Common Stock

(RTTNews) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Tuesday said its Board of Directors has approved the repurchase of up to $10 billion of the company's common stock.

"We are pleased that Johnson & Johnson's strong balance sheet and cash flow enable us to simultaneously return value to shareholders through our regular quarterly dividend and share repurchases, while at the same time continuing to invest in internal and external opportunities that will further strengthen our robust enterprise pipeline and drive long-term growth," said Alex Gorsky, Chairman and CEO.

Repurchases may be made at the management's discretion from time to time on the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. The repurchase program has no time limit and may be suspended for periods or discontinued at any time, the company noted.

Any shares acquired will be available for general corporate purposes. Johnson & Johnson intends to finance the share repurchase program through issuance of debt.

The company had approximately 2,767.3 million shares of common stock outstanding as of September 27.