Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has decided to return even more capital back to its shareholders. The super-regional discount airline’s board of directors has approved a higher dividend and a new share repurchase program.

The new quarterly dividend will rise by 50%, up to $0.06 per share from $0.04 per share. On an annualized basis, this increased dividend amounts to more than $160 million, based on approximately 692 million shares outstanding.

Southwest’s prior yield was only 0.7% or so, but shares have almost doubled from the lows of last year. The new dividend yield will be just under 1%, at 0.97%, based on a $24.80 share price.

Southwest’s new stock buyback plan is an authorization for up to $1 billion. What is more important than any part of the buyback is that an initial $200 million will be repurchased under an accelerated share repurchase program. Southwest has completed its prior $1.5 billion share buyback, and its market cap is $17.2 billion.

24/7 Wall St. just covered which airline offers investors the best value now that cancellations are in the past, and we also featured the best and worst airlines for consumers.

Trading at $24.80, Southwest has a 52-week trading range of $12.58 to $25.07, and the consensus price target is up at $27.21.

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