Howard Hughes Corp. buys back $57M worth of stock
Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp. bought back $57.3 million worth of stock this week.
The Dallas-based company announced Friday that it repurchased 475,920 shares of common stock from an undisclosed “unaffiliated entity” for $120.33 per share.
The sale closed Wednesday and was funded with cash on hand, Howard Hughes said.
In the news release, CEO David Weinreb said the “buyback provided us with a unique opportunity to acquire a block of our shares at a meaningful discount to the underlying net asset value of the company.”
The buyback came after Hughes stock dropped this year following the announcement that company Chairman Bill Ackman, a hedge-fund billionaire, was selling a big chunk of his stake in the developer.
Howard Hughes announced Jan. 2 that two Ackman-controlled entities planned to sell 2.5 million shares of Hughes stock.
Ackman controlled nearly 5.5 million shares, or 13.6 percent of the company, as of last March. After the proposed sale, he would control 5.1 percent, his group said at the time.
Hughes stock closed Jan. 2 trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $132.84; on Thursday, it closed at $120.98, according to figures on Yahoo Finance.
Shares closed Friday trading at $121.68, up 0.58 percent, or 70 cents.
Summerlin is the largest master-planned community in Las Vegas, spanning 22,500 acres along the valley’s western rim and boasting more than 100,000 residents.
Howard Hughes plans to release fourth-quarter earnings on Monday.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.