NEW YORK, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp. on Tuesday boosted its guidance on stock repurchase so as to keep returning cash to its investors at its annual investor meeting.
Chevron will spend 10 billion to 20 billion U.S. dollars in stock repurchases each year, up from 5 billion to 10 billion U.S. dollars per year announced a year ago, according to a release by the oil and gas producer.
That means Chevron would buy back around 3 percent to 6 percent of outstanding shares each year, according to a presentation by Pierre Breber, chief financial officer of Chevron.
"We have the capital discipline and balance sheet strength to offer a differentiated value proposition," said Breber.
Chevron reported 35.61 billion U.S. dollars of net income in 2022, up from 15.69 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year.
The higher range is supported by two scenario cases and reflects greater capital efficiency and low-dividend breakeven in Chevron, according to Breber.
"We're winning back investors with consistent and growing cash returned to shareholders across the commodity price cycle," added Breber.
Chevron said it would raise its targeted annual share buyback rate to 17.5 billion U.S. dollars starting in the second quarter.
In January, Chevron's board of directors authorized the repurchase of the company's shares of common stock in an aggregate amount of 75 billion U.S. dollars.
The authorization will take effect on April 1 without a fixed expiration date and replace previous repurchase authorization of 25 billion U.S. dollars which will terminate on March 31, according to an earlier release by Chevron.
Chevron spent 11.25 billion U.S. dollars in repurchasing nearly 70 million shares within 2022 up from 1.4 billion U.S. dollars of spending in 2021, according to an earlier earnings release by Chevron.
In addition, Chevron handed out 11 billion U.S. dollars as cash dividends to common stock shareholders in 2022, slightly higher from 10.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.
The White House has been criticizing U.S. oil companies for reaping hefty profits and driving up living costs and inflation pressures particularly in 2022.
Price of Chevron stocks declined 1.26 percent to 160.77 U.S. dollars per share on Tuesday but 7.38 percent higher than that in a year ago. ■