** Shares of Globe Life up 2.6% at $77.71 premarket after life insurer discloses stock buyback plans
** GL says board authorized up to $1.3 bln share repurchase for two-year period ending Dec 2005 under its existing program
** With ~94 mln shares outstanding, co has ~$7.12 bln market cap, per LSEG data
** GL a week ago raised its FY 2024 net operating income forecast to $11.50-$12/sh, up from prior projection of $11.30-$11.80, and said it expected to resume buybacks once blackout period related to potential acquisition ends for first qtr
** GL's stock on Apr 11 plunged 53% to close at $49.17 after Fuzzy Panda Research disclosed a short position in co, citing numerous cases of insurance fraud
** At that time, GL refuted the allegations and said it plans to explore all means of legal recourse against the responsible parties
** Shares have lost ~30% over the past year
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))
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