Anticipating significant cash flow through the end of next year, Oklahoma City-based Gulfport Energy Corporation announced that the board of directors expanded its common stock repurchase authorization by 63 percent to $650 million, according to a company press release issued on Wednesday. This increased authorization extends the program through December 31, 2024.
“As we close out 2023 and look ahead to an improving natural gas macro environment in 2024, we forecast accelerating free cash flow generation for our business, highlighting our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our focus on enhancing margins, optimizing efficiencies and protecting the financial strength of the Company,” said John Reinhart, President and CEO. “Given the unrecognized value we believe remains in our equity, our board of directors has increased our common stock repurchase authorization by 63%, allowing us to continue to opportunistically repurchase our shares and deliver significant value for our shareholders.”
As of September 15, 2023, the Company had repurchased approximately 3.9 million shares of common stock at a weighted-average share price of $85.92 since the program initiated in March 2022, totaling approximately $331.3 million in aggregate.
Purchases under the repurchase program may be made from time to time in open market or privately negotiated transactions and subject to available liquidity, market conditions, credit agreement restrictions, applicable legal requirements, contractual obligations and other factors. The repurchase program does not require the Company to acquire any specific number of shares. The Company intends to purchase shares under the repurchase program opportunistically with available funds while maintaining sufficient liquidity to fund its capital development program. The repurchase program may be suspended from time to time, modified, extended or discontinued by the board of directors at any time.