Hub Group announces $100 million share repurchase authorization

Hub Group (NASDAQ: HUBG) announced that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program for up to $100 million of its common stock.

The North American multimodal supply chain solutions provider didn’t provide a time limit on the share repurchase authorization.

From the release, “We continue to invest in diversifying our offerings and enhancing our technology to better serve our customers. This stock repurchase program reflects our strong financial position and confidence in the future of Hub Group, as well as our commitment to long-term shareholder value,” said Hub Group’s Chairman and CEO David Yeager.

According to the company’s first quarter 2019 filing, there was no formal share repurchase program in place. In the first quarter of 2019, however, HUBG repurchased 68,908 shares at a weighted average price of $37.42 per share which was, “related to employee withholding upon vesting of restricted stock.”

Earlier this month, HUBG announced plans to roll out its advanced end-to-end visibility data on May 16, which will allow customers to track loads in real time to better plan for the shipment’s arrival.

On April 30, 2019 HUBG reported record first quarter earnings of $0.71 per share, more than double the prior year’s result and $0.16 per share ahead of analysts’ estimates. Additionally, the company raised its full-year earnings guidance to a range of $3.25 to $3.40 a share.

HUBG closed at $39.16 on May 28, 2019. At this closing price, the share repurchase in its entirety represents a little more than 7.5 percent of the company’s outstanding common shares, potentially accretive to earnings by an equal amount depending on the timing and share price of future repurchases.