Texas Instruments said Friday that its board of directors had authorized the repurchase of an extra $5 billion of stock.

The company also plans to hike its quarterly cash dividend 33 percent, although the board has not yet approved that move.

The Dallas-based company has announced a number of previous share repurchases, but not at such a great amount. The total share repurchase authorization now stands at $6.8 billion. Since September 2004, TI has authorized the repurchase of $15 billion of stock.

During that period, TI has also reduced its shares outstanding by over 200 million, or more than 10 percent.

The dividend boost should also make shareholders happy. The new quarterly dividend will be $0.04 per quarter, resulting in annual dividend payments of $0.16 per share.

However, shareholders are starting to get used to dividend increases from the company. TI announced its previous dividend increase in July 2005 when it raised the dividend by 20 percent. The chip maker said it has paid dividends to shareholders on an uninterrupted basis since July 1, 1962.

TI anticipates that the first quarterly distribution of the new dividend will be payable on November 20, subject to board approval.

Shares of Texas Instruments rose $0.78 to $32.25 in recent trading.

Contact the writer:MCohn@RedHerring.com

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