Does HP Dividend Hike Relieve Some Separation Anxiety?

HP was one of a dozen companies we predicted earlier this month would raise their dividends. The company boosted its dividend by 10% last year, and now that it is on its way to splitting into two pieces, the company needed to do something to boost its share price. After all, its latest earnings reported generated a 10% sell-off, and that is not encouraging for the split.

In addition, Nomura noted that it is worried about HP’s cash flows going forward, and Pacific Crest also noted lower cash flows in the PC business, which appears to have left its growth spurt behind.

Before the dividend hike, HP’s yield was 2.0% at Wednesday’s closing price of $33.03. At the new level, the dividend yield is about 2.13%, still below the 2.9% paid by IBM and the 3.1% paid by Intel, but well ahead of Apple’s 1.5% yield and Oracle’s 1.1%.

IBM is one of the six companies we recently tagged as due for a dividend increase. The technology giant has raised its dividend every year for 19 years running, and its increase in 2014 was the 11th straight double-digit dividend hike.

HP’s shares rose about 1.9% Wednesday but traded down fractionally in the premarket session Thursday morning to $33.02. The stock’s 52-week range is $31.21 to $41.10, and the consensus price target is around $40.00 per share.

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