Top U.S. techs offer rising income

Article Excerpt

These two U.S. tech firms have moved up sharply in the past year. For some investors that makes them expensive in relation to their earnings. However, each dominates its industry, and that means both should continue to raise their dividends. MICROSOFT CORP. $69 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; HighGrowth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; s/o: 7.7 billion; Market cap: $531.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.3%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.microsoft.com) continues to gain from its shift to selling software as a subscription service. With the December 2016 payment, the company increased its quarterly dividend by 8.3%, to $0.39 a share from $0.36. The new annual rate is $1.56 and yields 2.3%. Microsoft has also announced a plan to buy back up to $40 billion of its shares. There are no time limits for those purchases. In its fiscal 2017 third quarter, ended March 31, 2017, the company’s revenue rose 6.3%, to $23.6 billion from $22.2 billion a year earlier. Earnings gained 13.4%, to $5.7 billion…