Mastercard Raises Dividend by 10% and Launches $6 Billion Share Buyback Program
The board of directors of Mastercard (NYSE: MA) has declared the company's latest quarterly common stock dividend. The credit card giant also launched a new large-scale stock repurchase program to replace an existing initiative.
The dividend will be $0.44 per share, a 10% increase over its predecessor. This is to be paid next Feb. 9 to investors of record as of Jan. 8. At the most recent closing share price, this would yield slightly over 0.5%.
Similar to archrival Visa (NYSE: V), Mastercard's dividend has never been particularly high-yielding. That said, the company has paid one consistently for many years, and habitually raises it once annually around December. Since the beginning of 2015, the payout has risen more or less steadily from $0.16 per share to the current level.
Source Fool.com
