LifePoint board OKs $100 M buyback expansion

LifePoint board approves $100-million expansion of existing share buyback program

Associated Press

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP) -- LifePoint Hospitals boosted its share repurchase program by $100 million.

The rural hospital operator also said Monday the program was extended to Aug. 20, 2014. It had been scheduled to expire March 13.

LifePoint had bought back about $154.6 million in shares as of Dec. 31. It has about $195.4 million under the expanded program for more buybacks.

LifePoint, based in Brentwood, Tenn., runs 57 hospitals in 20 states. It is the lone community hospital in most of its communities.

The company last month posted fourth-quarter earnings that had slipped 4 percent as admissions at established hospitals fell, while salaries and other expenses climbed. LifePoint earned $36.3 million, or 75 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. Revenue climbed 14 percent, to $893.3 million.

For the full year, LifePoint Hospitals Inc. earned $151.9 million, or $3.14 per share, on $3.39 billion in revenue.

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