It was one of the lightest weeks in a long while for the number of companies increasing dividends, but there were still a handful of big names pumping up payouts to shareholders. Leading the charge was industrial power and motion control product maker Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK). The company, which supplies products for a variety of industries including food and beverage, and transportation and energy, turned the dial up on its quarterly dividend 21% to 42.5 cents per share.
Rockwell cited its solid financial position and confidence in its prospects for continued strong cash flow as reasons for the boosted payout. The new dividend will be paid on September 12 to shareholders of record as of August 15.
Another very big firm banging out bigger payouts is Canadian banking giant Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY). The mega-cap financial firm upped its quarterly dividend by 8% to $0.54 per share. It was the bank’s first dividend increase since 2007. Along with the company’s dividend increase, Canada’s biggest bank reported a 13% increase in quarterly profits. However, that profit did fall short of Wall Street expectations.
Real estate investment trust Douglas Emmett (NYSE: DEI), owner and operator of office and multifamily properties in California and Hawaii, spread some dividend sunshine last week by shining a 30% increase to shareholders. The new dividend of 13 cents per share is payable July 15 to shareholders of record as of June 30.
Fellow real estate investment trust Hersha Hospitality Trust
(NYSE: HT), which focuses on hotels in major metropolitan markets, booked shareholders a 20% dividend increase to 6 cents per share. The new payment will be made July 15 to shareholders of record as of June 30.
Integrated circuit maker Micrel Inc. (NASDAQ: MCRL) increased the signal on its quarterly dividend by 14.3%. The payout of 4 cents per share is programmed to begin in the third quarter. The technology firm’s board also voted to approve the repurchase of $30 million of its common stock. The new repurchase authorization is in addition to about $6.7 million remaining from the board’s 2010 repurchase authorization of $30 million, and brings the total available for repurchase to $36.7 million.
At the time of publication, Jim Woods held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
