Lowes Dividend Inches Higher
- May 29, 2009
- Dividend News, Dividend Stocks
- Add a comment
Lowe’s (LOW: 26.91 +0.11%) announced today that their Board of Directors has increased their quarterly dividend by 6% to $.09 per share.
Lowe’s current dividend yield now stands at 1.9%. The company has now paid a cash dividend every quarter since going public in 1961.
The cash dividend will be payable on July 31, 2009 to shareholders of record as of July 17, 2009.
“While 2008 was a challenging year, we generated cash flow from operations of $4.1 billion and free cash flow of almost $900 million,” CFO Robert F. Hull told shareholders. “As a result of our prudent management of the balance sheet and healthy cash flows, we enjoy one of the strongest credit ratings in retail.”
Despite news of the modest dividend increase, LOW shares fell 1.8% to $18.68 in late morning trading. Since the beginning of the year, Lowe’s stock has fallen over 13%. Meanwhile, top competitor Home Depot (HD: 45.27 +0.22%) has seen their stock fall only 1% since the start of 2009.
Home Depot’s investors also benefit from the stock’s high 3.9% dividend yield. So Lowe’s investors probably aren’t all that excited about a half penny increase in their quarterly dividend when HD continues to offer investors twice their yield.
