Kroger in stock buyback

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. said Thursday that it will buy back up to $1 billion of its shares. The repurchase program replaces its existing plan, which had roughly $2 million remaining.



Kroger also declared a regular quarterly dividend of 16.5 cents per share, payable June 1 to shareholders of record May 15.

During the last four quarters, Kroger has used its strong free cash flow to return more than $928 million to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends.



Since January 2000, Kroger has returned approximately $10 billion to shareholders through share repurchases.