Northrop Grumman [NOC] on Wednesday announced a 14 percent hike in its quarterly dividend to 80 cents per share, marking the 12th year in a row the company has boosted its common stock dividend.
The dividend increase is payable June 17. The current dividend is 70 cents per share.
The dividend increase is part of the company’s strategy to return cash to shareholders.
“We continue to execute a capital deployment strategy that calls for returning cash to shareholders through a competitive dividend and share repurchases,” Wes Bush, Northrop Grumman’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are on track to complete our 60 million share repurchase program this year, market conditions permitting. Returning cash to shareholders continues to be core element of our value creation strategy.”