Flutter Repurchasing Shares, Aims to Buy Back $350M by End of Q1

January 04, 2025

Flutter Entertainment (NYSE: FLUT) has made a strong beginning with its recently revealed $5 billion share buyback initiative, having repurchased around 9,600 of its shares on the last trading day of 2024. 

This was succeeded by the acquisition of over 13,000 shares on January 2 — the initial trading day of 2025. Goldman Sachs carried out the buybacks in the open market for the gaming firm based in Dublin. Flutter had stated earlier that it intended to start repurchasing its shares in November.

"The redemptions form part of Flutter’s intention to buy back Ordinary Shares of up to $350 million in the period to March 31, 2025 following the announcement of the share buyback program on November 13, 2024 (the “Buyback”) and form part of Flutter’s intention to buy back $5 billion of shares as announced on September 25, 2024,” according a statement.

After the buyback activity, the parent company of FanDuel “will possess 177,881,080 ordinary shares outstanding.” 

Flutter Discovering Value in Share Buybacks 

Flutter ended Friday at $256.76, approximately 10% lower than its 52-week high of $284.79. Based on the difference between the 52-week high and the repurchase prices, the gaming company is obtaining value in its stock. 

On December 31, the price range for the repurchased Flutter shares was $256.26 to $260.08. On Thursday, the range was from $254.96 to $260.04. Firms are not required to buy back the full announced amount, but if Flutter went ahead with repurchasing $5 billion of its shares, it would account for a large portion of its market cap of $45.34 billion. 

If Wall Street's predictions are accurate, Flutter’s market worth is set to rise significantly. Among the 22 analysts monitoring the stock, 20 assign ratings of "strong buy" or "buy," and the average price target for the shares is $303.90, representing a 18.36% increase from the Jan. 3 close. 

FanDuel ranks among the most valuable gaming brands globally, and in the US, it shares an online sports betting duopoly with DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) as the other entity. 

Flutter Expanding Significantly with Buyback 

The parent company of Betfair announced in September its intention to buy back $5 billion of its shares in the coming years. That was beneficial for one of the biggest buyback programs unveiled in the gaming sector in 2024 and five times greater than the repurchase initiative revealed by competitor DraftKings a month earlier. 

Flutter’s announcement of plans to return capital to shareholders through a repurchase program marks the operator’s inaugural declaration of this kind since its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in early 2024. In the center of last year, the company moved its main listing to the US. 

This has achieved the goal of expanding Flutter’s investor pool, especially among US professional market players, while enhancing the liquidity of the shares.