Harris Raises Dividend 13.5%

Excellent news today from Harris Corp. ($HRS). The board has raised the quarterly dividend from 37 cents to 42 cents per share. That’s a 13.5% increase. Based on Friday’s close, HRS yields 2.95%. The shares are currently up 41 cents today. A few weeks ago, Harris reported earnings significantly better than estimates. The company earned $1.41 per share compared with Wall Street’s consensus of $1.15 per share. Business is clearly going well there.

Turning to economics, this morning’s report on orders for durable goods was pretty lousy. July orders fell by 7.3% which was the biggest drop in 11 months. Economists were expecting a drop of 4%. Bloomberg notes:

The report shows struggling overseas markets and the effects of federal government spending cuts are lingering and holding back manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy. Further improvement in the labor market and sustained demand for automobiles and housing would help spur production through the second half of the year.

Microsoft ($MSFT) is down 49 cents today, which is about 1.4%, but that’s after its strong post-Ballmer showing from last Friday.

Bespoke Investment Group reminds us that the S&P 500 is back above its 50-day moving average. We snapped a five-day streak over closing below the 50-DMA.

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on August 26th, 2013 at 10:06 am

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