The question is the motivation, they're showing a significant drop in shares outstanding. Is this being done to keep up the appearances of being a growth stock and maintain the high P/E? Here's an interesting paper: What Drives Companies to Repurchase Their Stock?
An interesting conclusion from this paper: "We also find that executives are more likely to undertake repurchases when earnings fall short of levels necessary to sustain prior growth rates in eps".
In the days of regulated utilities (high cash flow, stable business), they could have turned themselves into "growth stocks" by repurchasing shares instead of paying dividends.
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