Strategy STRC Buyback: $193.1M Spent, Authority Lifted To $3.0B

Strategy spent $193.1 million last week buying back its own preferred stock. The Strategy STRC buyback covered 1,938,780 shares of the variable rate Series A preferred, according to an 8-K the company filed on October 19. The same filing raised the board's authority for these repurchases by a full billion dollars.

The filing's own text on the new limit. Source: Strategy's Form 8-K dated October 19.

Buyback authority moves from $2.0B to $3.0B

Strategy's board lifted its digital credit securities repurchase program from $2.0 billion to $3.0 billion. The figure includes commissions, fees and any buying already done under the program. After the increase, $1.16 billion was still available as of October 18.

That leaves about $1.84 billion of the larger limit already used, by our arithmetic. Only one preferred series was bought during the week. STRF, STRK and STRD show dashes in the table, and so does the common stock program.

Paying about $99.60 a share

Dividing $193.1 million by 1,938,780 shares gives roughly $99.60 each. That is our own calculation, and it sits just under the stock's $100 stated value.

The money came from the company's USD Cash balance, not from selling shares. Strategy sold no preferred stock through its at-the-market program that week. It did sell 140,872 common shares and kept $22.0 million of net proceeds.

Repurchases for October 12 to 18, as reported. Source: Strategy's Form 8-K.

STRC pays a variable rate, and a filing from October 15 sets 12.00% a year for November if a contingent condition is met. Management said it will recommend keeping that rate until the stock has shown sustained, healthy trading near $100. Our earlier piece on STRC's daily dividend covers the November schedule and the vote.

Four preferred stocks, one buyback

Strategy has four preferred series listed on Nasdaq. STRF carries 10.00% and STRK 8.00%, STRD pays 10.00%, and STRC floats. The week's repurchases touched only STRC, the one with the largest ATM capacity left at $17.51 billion.

The other three still have room to issue as well. The 8-K lists $1.62 billion for STRF, $2.10 billion for STRK and $4.01 billion for STRD. None of the four sold any stock that week, so the Strategy STRC buyback was the only preferred activity in the table.

Bitcoin bought on the side

Those common share proceeds paid for 267 bitcoin at an average of about $82,900, a total of $22.1 million. The remaining $0.1 million came from USD Cash. Strategy now reports 848,517 BTC, bought for $64.02 billion at an average of $75,446.

The 8-K also lists two cash pools. The USD Reserve stood at $4.83 billion on October 18, and USD Cash at $447.3 million. The reserve is meant to cover preferred dividends and interest, and $45.5 million of it went to dividends this week.

Common stock has capacity too, at $18.79 billion through its ATM. A separate common stock repurchase program has $1.0 billion available, and no MSTR shares were bought back in the period.

This article reports company filings and gives no advice on any security.