Lockheed Martin today stated that they would increase their quarterly dividend by a third and that they would also raise their shares repurchase authority by $2.5 billion dollars.
The upcoming fourth quarter of 2011 dividend has been authorized to be $1.00 dollars per share as Lockheed also will repurchase up to an additional $2.5 billion dollars worth of shares in tandem which should increase shareholder value on per-share basis. The dividend will be payable December 30, 2011 to holders of record as of the close of business on December 1st, 2011 according to the company.
In a company statement, Lochkeed released the following, “Our focus on performance, affordability and delivering on our commitments for our customers has enabled us to generate this value for our shareholders,” said Chairman and CEO Bob Stevens. “We continue to deliver on our long-standing goal to return at least 50 percent of free cash flow to them.”
Lockheed notes that this will be the ninth consecutive annual incremental raise of their quarterly dividend by at least 10% as the company continues to increase value for their shareholders.
While the company is authorized to repurchase up to $2.5 billion dollars it will be upon the discretion of the company of exactly how many that they will repurchase and is subject to applicable laws and regulations.
