Shares of United Continental Holdings Inc. climbed 3.5% in afternoon trade Friday, enough to make them the biggest percentage gainer among components of the Dow Jones Transportation Average . The air carrier disclosed in a filing late Thursday that it now expects to buy back about $1.5 billion worth of its common stock during the first quarter, compared with its previouly-announced plan to repurchase "about $750 million" of its shares. "It is obvious there is a newfound sense of urgency at UAL, which we could clearly see when we went out there two weeks ago with investors," analyst Hunter Keay at Wolfe Research wrote in a note to clients. "It's also likely that UAL's board is listening to their biggest and/or more 'active' owners." Even with Friday's gain, the stock has dropped 19% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has slipped 8.6%.
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