Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) added up to 20 million shares on its existing buyback plan in mid-December.  With shares having been just above $40 this week that comes to roughly $800 million against a market cap of just under $9 billion.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) in the middle of the month approved a share repurchase authorization of up to $2.5 billion in common stock; it had approximately $600 mill
ion remaining under its July-2009 $2.0 billion share repurchase program.  Baxter’s market cap is just above $29 billion.

Chubb Corporation (NYSE: CB) has now authorized an additional 30 million shares for buybacks, and that appears to be the second buyback expansion in the year.  That is nearly $1.8 billion at current share prices against a market cap of nearly $18 billion at the time.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) announced in mid-month a buyback plan of up to $1 billion as it noted, “CSC believes that its shares represent an attractive investment opportunity.”  This was recently one of our ‘Deep Value Tech Stocks’ and that $1 billion compares to a market cap today of close to $7.5 billion.

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) lowered its guidance for  growth in 2011, but it did expand its buyback ambitions by the $554 million received as an early repayment of notes it was owed.  ConAgra’s  plan is now close to $750 million against a market cap of $9.7 billion at the time.

Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK), in packaging products for consumer goods, said earlier this month that it had accelerated a share repurchase plan through Citi.  It then authorized the repurchase of up to $600 million worth of common stock through the end of 2012.  The current market cap is almost $5.4 billion.

Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) announced that it received renewed approval for a Normal Course Issuer Bid from the Toronto Stock Exchange and it may repurchase and cancel up to 36.8 million shares.  That is roughly 5% of its outstanding and issued shares.  Its market cap was close to $21 billion at the time.