The IBM board of directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.50 per common share, payable December 9, 2017 to stockholders of record November 10, 2017. With the payment of the December 9 dividend, IBM will have paid consecutive quarterly dividends every year since 1916.
The board today also authorized $3 billion in additional funds for use in the company’s stock repurchase program. IBM said it will repurchase shares on the open market or in private transactions from time to time, depending on market conditions.
This amount is in addition to approximately $1.5 billion remaining at the end of September 2017 from a prior authorization. With this new authorization, IBM will have approximately $4.5 billion for its stock repurchase program.
Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer, said: "Our strong free cash flow has enabled us to maintain R&D investments and to expand IBM's cloud and cognitive capabilities through capital investments, while returning capital to shareholders. We remain committed to both investing for the long term and returning capital."
The IBM business model is built to support two principal goals: helping clients succeed in delivering business value by becoming more innovative, efficient and competitive through the use of business insight and information technology (IT) solutions; and, providing long-term value to shareholders. The business model has been developed over time through strategic investments in capabilities and technologies that have the best long-term growth and profitability prospects based on the value they deliver to clients. The company's strategy is to focus on the high-growth, high-value segments of the IT industry. The company's global capabilities include services, software, hardware, fundamental research and financing. The broad mix of businesses and capabilities are combined to provide business insight and solutions for the company's clients.
