Shares of Qualcomm Inc. rallied 2.6% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the semiconductor and digital telecommunications services company said it will raise its dividend by 10%. The company said its new quarterly dividend of 75 cents a share, up from 68 cents, will be effective and payable after March 24. Based on Tuesday’s stock closing price of $150.76, the new annual dividend rate would imply a dividend yield of 1.99%, which compares with the implied dividend yield for the S&P 500 of 1.53%. “Given our long-term earnings growth expectations we provided at Investor Day, we remain committed to returning capital to stockholders through a balanced capital return policy, including a baseline of anti-dilutive stock repurchases, and strong dividend growth with an annualized target of high-single-digit to low-double-digit growth,” said Qualcomm Chief Executive Cristiano Amon. The stock has dropped 17.3% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has shed 10.6%.
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