$ORI (+0.52%) Old Republic announces special dividend
Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE: ORI) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special dividend of $2.00 per share. This special dividend will be paid on January 15, 2025 to shareholders of record on January 3, 2025 and will distribute approximately $500 million to shareholders.
In the fourth quarter to date, Old Republic has purchased $174 million under a $1.1 billion share repurchase authorization approved by the Board of Directors on February 29, 2024, of which approximately $240 million remains available. Under the share repurchase program, Old Republic may continue to purchase shares from time to time at its discretion through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise.
In making its decision to pay a special dividend, the Board of Directors evaluated factors such as the current and foreseeable liquidity and capital needs of the parent holding company and its subsidiaries, the insurance companies.
Craig R. Smiddy, President and CEO, commented, "Old Republic continues to perform well and generate excess capital that can be returned to shareholders. Today's announcement of a special dividend of $2.00 complements our ongoing share repurchase programs, which have returned over $1.7 billion to shareholders and reduced the number of shares outstanding by over 20% over the past two and a half years. These actions reflect the strength of our balance sheet and our continued confidence in the growth and earnings potential of our diversified portfolio of specialty insurance companies."
Since December 31, 2019, Old Republic has returned over $4 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and regular and special cash dividends. The current annual cash dividend rate of $1.06 per share represents an 8.2% increase over 2023. This is the 43rd consecutive year that Old Republic has increased its regular cash dividend and the 83rd year of uninterrupted regular cash dividend payments.
Source: https://ir.oldrepublic.com
