Military

Missiles Deliver Big Dividend Hike for Raytheon Shareholders

Jon C. Ogg

Published: March 29, 2017 4:37 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 1:29 pm

Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) has been one of the post-election winners that benefited from the so-called trump Bump due to higher military spending ambitions. It turns out that the hype behind higher defense spending is giving this military equipment giant confidence to boost its dividend handily.

What should stand out here now is that Raytheon has boosted its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Raytheon announced that its dividend will be hiked to $3.19 from $2.93 per share. This represents an 8.9% hike for shareholders. Raytheon’s board also authorized payment of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.7975 per share of common stock to be paid on May 11, 2017, to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 12, 2017.

Raytheon shares closed at $151.93 on Wednesday, down 14 cents on the day, in a 52-week trading range of $121.01 to $157.59. Its consensus analyst price target from Thomson Reuters is $169.17.

Raytheon’s dividend-adjusted return in 2017 has so far been up 7% from the $142.00 adjusted close on December 30, 2016. The shares are actually up over 11% from the $136.51 adjusted closing price from the pre-election results close on November 8, 2016.

Raytheon’s market cap is $44.5 billion, and its consensus analyst price target from Thomson Reuters is $169.17.

Thomas Kennedy, Raytheon’s chairman and CEO, said:

With today’s announcement, we have increased our annual dividend for 13 consecutive years. The dividend increase is a key part of our balanced capital deployment strategy, and reflects our confidence in the company’s growth and financial outlook and our continued focus on creating value for shareholders.

24/7 Wall St.
7 Analyst Stock Picks That Could Surge 50%, 100% or Exponentially