3M has been working through its buyback program faster than the calendar, and its board has now topped it up. Directors signed off on buying back as much as $6.0 billion more of the company's stock, and with $1.5 billion still unspent from the 2025 program, 3M now has $7.5 billion of capacity and no deadline to use it, the company said in a release. Open-ended authorizations are common among large U.S. companies and do not oblige a board to spend the full amount. Actual purchases typically depend on cash generation, acquisition plans and the share price.
The refill looked overdue by the standard of 3M's recent filings. The company had roughly $1.8 billion left under the old program as of June 30 after a first half of heavy purchasing, its second-quarter report showed. That pace reflects a wider promise to investors. On the July earnings call, management said it had returned $8.6 billion to shareholders since the start of 2025 against a commitment of at least $10 billion through 2027.
The dividend side of the announcement was steadier. The board declared 78 cents a share for the fourth quarter, extending a run of uninterrupted payments the company puts at more than a century, the release said. The payout has long been central to 3M's appeal to income-oriented investors, and it survived the 2024 spin-off of the Solventum health care business as well as years of litigation costs tied to PFAS chemicals and military earplugs.
The buyback expansion follows a quarter in which 3M lifted its outlook. Third-quarter sales were $6.6 billion, the company raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $9.10 to $9.15 a share, and it returned $0.6 billion to shareholders in the period. Under Chairman and CEO William Brown, the Minnesota-based company has leaned on productivity programs and a faster cadence of new products while exiting PFAS manufacturing.