Axos (AX) Announces Share Repurchase Plan Worth $100 Million
Axos Financial, Inc. AX announced an additional share repurchase program. Per the plan, the company is authorized to buy back up to $100 million worth of shares. There is no specific start or end date for the newly announced plan.
This new share buyback plan supplements the existing repurchase program, which was approved on Apr 26, 2023. As part of the existing plan, it has almost $20 million worth of authorization remaining. AX repurchased $83.2 million worth of shares during the first half of fiscal 2024.
Prior to this, Axos had announced a repurchase program in 2019, preceded by a plan announced in 2016, each worth $100 million.
Notably, the company doesn’t pay any dividends. This seems to be a strategic and deliberate approach to capital management across the span of the plan.
As of Dec 31, 2023, Axos’ CET1 capital ratio was 10.97%, up from 10.55% in the prior year period. As of the same date, total deposits were $18.2 billion, the long-term debt was $341.1 million and liquid securities totaled $253.3 million.
Given its strong balance sheet and liquidity position, Axos is expected to be able to sustain current capital distributions in the future. This will keep enhancing shareholder’s wealth.
Shares of AX have gained 25.1% over the past six months compared with the industry’s rally of 16.6%.
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Currently, AX sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.
Share Buyback Plans of Other Banks
Earlier this month, Zions Bancorporation ZION announced a new share repurchase plan for 2024. The plan authorizes the company to buy back up to $35 million worth of shares.
ZION repurchased shares in each of the last three years, indicating an impressive capital distribution plan on the back of anticipated growth.
In January, Capital City Bank Group, Inc. CCBG announced a new repurchase program. The program equips the bank to buy back up to 750,000 shares of common stock over the next five years. This represents 4.4% of the bank’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock.
CCBG terminated an existing repurchase program in order to pursue the new one, indicating certain capital distribution tweaks. The current plan does not obligate the bank to buy back any specified number of shares.
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