Payout Boost: GE hikes dividend

Article Excerpt

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $32 (New York symbol GE; Income-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 8.9 billion; Market cap: $284.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 3.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.ge.com) is a leading maker of industrial machinery, including jet engines, power plant equipment and locomotives. It also makes medical gear and lighting products. With the January 2017 payment, the company will increase its quarterly dividend by 4.3%, to $0.24 a share from $0.23. The new annual rate of $0.96 yields 3.0%. GE has paid dividends continuously since 1899. However, it cut the payout by two thirds in 2009 due to the financial crisis and its impact on GE Capital. In the past few years, the company has sold most of GE Capital as part of a plan to focus on its main industrial businesses. The plan has also let it boost the quarterly payout by 140.0% since 2009. GE is a buy. buy…