Los Angeles - Walt Disney Company raised its dividend by 15 percent following record results and said it would begin paying investors twice a year.
The new semi-annual dividend is 66 cents a share, Burbank, California-based Disney said on Wednesday in a statement. The company previously paid its dividend annually, returning $1.15 a share to investors last year.
“Disney delivered significant increases in revenue, net income and EPS for the first half of fiscal 2015,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger said in the statement.
Disney has posted record profit for the past four years as investments in films and theme-park attractions drew more customers to its properties. It has two of the top four domestic films of 2015 in Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Cinderella. Such hits reap returns long after they’ve left theatres through merchandise sales, TV airings and theme-park attendance.
The company has more than doubled its dividend since 2011. Still, Disney’s projected yield, based on the new annual rate of $1.32 a share, is 1.2 percent. That compares with the current 2 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500.
Disney rose less than 1 percent to $114.25 in extended trading after the announcement. The stock was down fractionally to $113.77 at the close in New York and has gained 21 percent this year.
Bloomberg