Macy’s Beats Sales Estimate, Doubles Dividend (M)

December same-store sales at Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) rose 6.2%, well above the consensus estimate of 5%. But sales for the peak sales season of November and December rose less, just 5.7%.

But the really good news for investors came later in the press release:

Given the strength in our company’s sales, earnings and cash flow, we are enhancing our return to shareholders by doubling our quarterly dividend and increasing our share purchase authorization by $1 billion.

Macy’s will now pay a dividend of $0.20/quarter. On an annual basis, Macy’s same-store sales have risen 5.4% in 2011.