7 big dividends & buybacks: Costco, J&J hike their payouts | Pro Recap

By Davit Kirakosyan

Investing.com -- Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest fresh dividend hikes, special dividends, and stock buybacks you may have missed this week.

Costco hikes dividend, shares gain

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) shares rose nearly 2% on Thursday after the company hiked its dividend by 13.3% to $1.02 per share, or $4.08 annualized, for an annual yield of 0.8%.

The dividend will be payable on May 19, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 5, 2023, with an ex-dividend date of May 4, 2023.

Last month the company reported its Q2 results, with EPS of $3.30 coming in better than the consensus of $3.21, while revenue of $54.24 billion missed the consensus estimate of $55.55B.

Shares gained 3% this week.

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Johnson & Johnson hikes dividend, beats Q1 & raises outlook

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) hiked its dividend by 5.3% to $1.19 per share, or $4.76 annualized, for an annual yield of 2.9%.

The dividend will be payable on June 6, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 23, 2023, with an ex-dividend date of May 22, 2023.

The company reported its Q1 results on Tuesday, with both EPS of $2.68 and revenue of $24.7B beating expectations. Furthermore, the company raised its 2023 outlook, expecting EPS of $10.60-$10.70 and revenue of $97.9-98.9B, both above the consensus estimates.

Shares closed the week with a nearly 2% loss.

5 more dividends & share buybacks

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) declared a special dividend of $2.00 per share, for an annual yield of 6.3%. The dividend will be payable on May 19, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 9, 2023, with an ex-dividend date of May 8, 2023.

Furthermore, the company increased its share repurchase authorization to $258 million from the prior unused authorization of $58M.

Shares fell nearly 6% this week.

Capstar Financial (NASDAQ:CSTR) hiked its dividend by 10% to $0.11 per share, or $0.44 annualized, for an annual yield of 3%. The dividend will be payable on May 24, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 10, 2023, with an ex-dividend date of May 9, 2023.

Shares dropped more than 7% on Friday after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.

Value Line (NASDAQ:VALU) hiked its dividend by 12% to $0.28 per share, or $1.12 annualized, for an annual yield of 2.4%. The dividend will be payable on May 11, 2023, to stockholders of record on May 1, 2023, with an ex-dividend date of April 28, 2023.

The Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) hiked its dividend by 7.5% to $1.00 per share, or $4 annualized, for an annual yield of 2.4%. The dividend will be payable on June 30, 2023, to stockholders of record on June 9, 2023, with an ex-dividend date of June 8, 2023.

Furthermore, the company authorized an additional $5B of share repurchases.

Shares gained more than 6% this week.

Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) on Monday approved a new common stock repurchase authorization of up to $1B. Along with this, it approved a new shareholder return framework that also includes a fixed quarterly cash dividend and a variable quarterly cash dividend component.

The company plans to return to shareholders at least 65% of its annual Available Free Cash Flow (AFCF) retroactive to January 1, 2023.