Rockwell to Spend $500 Million to Repurchase Stock

Directors of Rockwell International Corp., continuing a decade-long program, voted Wednesday to spend an additional $500 million to buy back the company’s common stock.

So far, Rockwell has spent $2.6 billion since 1984 to repurchase stock in an effort to boost the price and enhance the value for remaining shareholders. It has 217 million shares outstanding.

As with previous buy-back authorizations, the company’s management will repurchase stock from time to time on the open market as the price goes down. Rockwell is not currently buying any of its stock, spokesman Terry Francisco said.

Directors also approved a regular quarterly dividend of 29 cents a share, which will be paid Sept. 9 to holders of record as of Aug. 9.