KBR executives had indicated in the past few months that they were looking at buybacks as the share count crept above the company’s target of 150 million. As of last month, there were 150.8 million shares outstanding.

“The shares will be repurchased from time to time in the open market at the company’s discretion,” KBR said in a statement on the new buyback program.

The Houston-based company had $712 million in cash and equivalents at the end of June, having spent $35 million on share repurchases last quarter, and just $92 million in long-term debt.

In June 2010, the company announced a plan to buy back 10 million shares to reduce its share count from its level of about 160 million at the time.