Aetna Board of Directors Announces Actions.HARTFORD, Conn. -- --Authorizes additional share repurchases Share Repurchase A program by which a company buys back its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares. This is usually an indication that the company's management thinks the shares are undervalued. -- --Declares annual dividend -- Aetna Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : AET AET Aetna, Inc. AET After Extra Time AET Actual Evapotranspiration AET Alliance for Environmental Technology AET Alpha-Ethyltryptamine AET Applied Extrusion Technologies, Inc. ) today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized au·thor·ize tr.v. au·thor·ized, au·thor·iz·ing, au·thor·iz·es 1. To grant authority or power to. 2. To give permission for; sanction: the company to repurchase from time to time up to $750 million of its common stock. This authorization is in addition to the approximately $260 million remaining under Aetna's prior authorization prior authorization, n See predetermination. prior authorization Health insurance A cost containment measure that provides full payment of health benefits only if the hospitalization or medical treatment has been . The company intends to continue buying shares from time to time using available cash, including proceeds from employee stock option exercises. Aetna had approximately 290 million common shares outstanding as of June 30, 2005. The Board of Directors also declared its regular annual cash dividend of $0.04 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable on November 30, 2005, to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 16, 2005. As one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care long-term care (LTC), n the provision of medical, social, and personal care services on a recurring or continuing basis to persons with chronic physical or mental disorders. benefits, Aetna puts information and helpful resources to work for its approximately 14.435 million medical members, 12.976 million dental members, 9.117 million pharmacy members and 13.662 million group insurance members to help them make better informed decisions about their health care and protect their finances against health-related risks. Aetna provides easy access to cost-effective health care through a nationwide network of more than 684,000 health care professionals, including over 405,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 4,135 hospitals. For more information, please visit http://www.aetna.com. (Figures as of June 30, 2005) |
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