CenturyTel Announces Increased Dividend and Acceleration of Share Repurchase Program; Raises...

CenturyTel Announces Increased Dividend and Acceleration of Share Repurchase Program; Raises Annual Dividend to $2.80 Per Share MONROE, La., June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CenturyTel, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) today announced that its Board of Directors determined to: -- Increase CenturyTel's annual cash dividend to $2.80 from $.27 per share. -- Declare a one-time dividend of $.6325 per share, payable on July 21, 2008, to shareholders of record on July 7, 2008, effectively adjusting the total second quarter dividend to the new $.70 quarterly dividend rate; -- Utilize future share buybacks to target net debt at 2.75 times operating cash flow; -- Accelerate purchases under the current $750 million share repurchase program to complete the remaining balance of approximately $385 million by year end 2008 or early 2009, which is expected... [read full story]