Qualcomm Hikes Dividend by 12%
- March 2, 2010
- Dividend News, Featured
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Qualcomm (QCOM: 39.08 -0.08%) announced yesterday that the company is increasing their quarterly dividend by 12%. The new quarterly dividend payout will go from $.17 per share to $.19 per share.
Following the dividend increase, Qualcomm’s current dividend yield will now stand at 2.1%.
Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm stated, “the strength of our business model is enabling significant investments in our strategic business initiatives while returning capital to stockholders. Since commencing this program in 2003, we have returned $12.6 billion to our stockholders through a combination of dividends and stock repurchases.”
The company is also implementing a new $3 billion share repurchase program. That would retire approximately 84 million shares based upon yesterday’s closing price. The company currently has 1.64 billion shares outstanding.
With over $12 billion in cash on their balance sheet, income investors should be excited to see the company focusing on returning some of that cash to its shareholders.
The markets have responded well to the dividend announcement, with Qualcomm’s shares up 5.1% in mid-morning trading to $37.37.
