SYMANTEC CORP. $19.97 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (650-527-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 675.5 million; Market cap: $12.8 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%) has completed the sale of its Veritas Technologies subsidiary to the Carlyle Group (Nasdaq symbol CG). This business makes products for data backup and recovery. Symantec received $6.6 billion in cash ($5.3 billion after taxes). It also retained a $400 million equity stake in Veritas. Symantec has earmarked $2.3 billion of the proceeds for share repurchases it aims to complete by March 2017. The company has also lowered its regular quarterly dividend by 50.0%, to $0.075 a share from $0.15, because of the Veritas sale. The new annual rate of $0.30 yields 1.5%. It will, however, pay a special dividend of $4.00 a share on March 22, 2016. Symantec now focuses solely on antivirus and security software. In its fiscal 2016 third quarter, which ended January 1, 2016, revenue from its ongoing operations fell 6.3%, to $909 million from $970 million a year earlier. That still beats the consensus forecast of $905.8 million. If you exclude the negative impact of currency rates, revenue fell 2%. Before unusual items, earnings declined 24.6%, to $172 million from $228 million. Earnings per share fell 21.2%, to $0.26 from $0.33, on fewer shares outstanding. That was enough to beat the consensus estimate of $0.24. Symantec is a top pick for 2016.