Sixteen years of dividend hikes

Article Excerpt

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $170 (New York symbol IBM, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $204.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ibm.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 15.4%, to $0.75 a share from $0.65. The new annual rate of $3.00 yields 1.8%. This is the 16th consecutive year that IBM has raised its dividend. The computer maker also plans to buy back $8 billion of its common shares. Combined with $4.7 billion remaining on its previous authorization, IBM can now buy back $12.7 billion of its stock. That’s equal to 6% of its market cap. IBM is a buy. buy…