Microsoft (MSFT) raised its quarterly dividend by 15% this week to 23 cents a share - payable in December.
For all those keeping score, that’s the seventh increase since it started paying in 2004.
MSFT Dividend data by YCharts
This was a smaller increase than last year, but still welcome. At this rate, Microsoft will pay 92 cents in dividends over the next year. Based on Tuesday’s close of $31.17, that’s a 2.95% yield. That’s still respectable in the tech sector -- less than at Intel (INTC), near Cisco (CSCO) but more than IBM (IBM) and Apple (AAPL).
MSFT Dividend Yield data by YCharts
And on the theme of technology companies being the new industrials, its dividend’s in no danger of disappearing. The new dividend will cost the company an extra $1 billion, but it can afford that – even if most of that’s overseas and would be subject to taxes if it came home.
MSFT Cash and ST Investments data by YCharts
MSFT Free Cash Flow TTM data by YCharts
Its payout ratio skyrocketed this year, but Microsoft also wrote off $6.2 billion, most of what it paid for internet advertising company aQuantive.
MSFT Payout Ratio TTM data by YCharts
So this is one of those times when it helps to look at its cash dividend payout ratio. For more on why it can be a better measure, see this story by YCharts’ Dee Gill.
MSFT Cash Div. Payout Ratio TTM data by YCharts
And despite the slow death of PCs in a mobile world, Microsoft is still growing. While its $18 billion PC-oriented Windows division lost ground last year, its $24 billion business division (read: its Office system) gained.
From the editors of YCharts.YCharts Pro
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