IBM Buying Back $1 Billion of Stock:...

IBM Buying Back $1 Billion of Stock: International Business Machines Corp. said its board has authorized the repurchase of up to $1 billion worth of stock. At its closing price of $101.75 on Wednesday, IBM would be able to buy up to 9.83 million shares, or about 1.7% of the estimated outstanding total of 579 million. Stock buybacks are seen as a boon to company shareholders. They tend to push up the price of the stock because there are fewer shares outstanding and automatically boost the closely watched earnings-per-share figure.