Microsoft Ups Dividend by 22%

The stock market has rallied for nine of the ten days in September thus far, and we’re on track for another up day today. All eyes are on the Fed which begins its important two-day “tapering” meeting in Washington.

The best news this morning is that Microsoft ($MSFT) just announced a big dividend increase. I had projected that MSFT would raise their quarterly dividend by three cents — rising from 23 cents to 26 cents per share. I wasn’t optimistic enough. The software giant just raised their quarterly dividend by five cents per share to 28 cents. That’s a 22% increase. MSFT also announced a $40 billion buyback program.

The new repurchase program, which has no expiration date, replaces another $40 billion buyback plan that was due to lapse at the end of this month, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said today in a statement. The company’s quarterly dividend will rise 22 percent to 28 cents a share, payable to shareholders on Dec. 12.

“These actions reflect a continued commitment to returning cash to our shareholders,” Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in the statement.

For the year, the company will pay out $1.12 per share. Based on yesterday’s close, that translates to a yield of 3.41%.

Posted by on September 17th, 2013 at 10:10 am


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.