Retailer Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) said its board has raised the company's share repurchase authorization by $1.5 billion.
As of the end of the third quarter on Oct. 27, 2012, the latest announcement brings the remaining authorization outstanding to $1.861 billion.
Since resuming its share buyback plans in August 2011, Macy's said it had bought back around 42.6 million shares for roughly $1.491 billion through Oct. 27, 2012.
The company operates about 840 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, as well as the macys.com and bloomingdales.com websites.
Last month, the company reported a 4.3 percent increase in quarterly earnings on higher revenue and same-store sales. Despite results topping Wall Street expectations, the retailer guided fourth-quarter profit below consensus.
For fiscal 2012, the company increased its earnings guidance to range of $3.35 to $3.40 per share from previous forecast of $3.30 to $3.35 per share, while analysts expect $3.40 per share. Macy's raised its full-year same-store sales growth outlook to 3.9 percent from previous estimate of about 3.5 percent.
The stock, which has been trading between $30.42 and $42.17 for the past 52 weeks, advanced 1.05 percent to trade at $39.33 on Friday.