Dividend Hikes: Eaton

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Eaton (ETN) announced a 16% increase to its dividend as the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, news that helped the stock rally more than 5% during Wednesday's session.

Eaton said it has upped its quarterly dividend to 58 cents per share from 50 cents, boosting the stock's dividend yield to 3.18% from 2.74% on an annualized basis. The new dividend is payable on Aug. 27 to shareholders of record on Aug. 9, the company said.

The dividend increase announcement came as Eaton posted a second-quarter adjusted profit of $1.36 a share, handily beating the Thomson Reuters average estimate of $1.17 a share. The company also offered better-than-expected earnings guidance for the third quarter and full year.

Shares of Eaton were climbing by $3.78, or 5.5% to $72.84.

Elsewhere, Airgas (ARG) said it has boosted its quarterly dividend by 14% to 25 cents per share from 22 cents. The dividend will be payable on Sept. 30 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 15, the company said.

The announcement came as Airgas posted second-quarter earnings and revenue that exceed Wall Street's average forecast. In addition, Airgas guided full-year earnings above the Thomson Reuters consensus target. In addition, the company once again rebuffed the hostile takeover bid from Air Products (APD).

Airgas shares were lately down 0.9% to $64.56.

Altera (ALTR) said late Tuesday that its board of directors has increased the company's quarterly cash dividend to 6 cents per share from 5 cents. The next quarterly dividend will be paid on Sept. 1 to stockholders of record on Aug. 10, Altera said.

The announcement came as Altera topped analysts' second-quarter estimates for earnings and revenue while guiding third-quarter revenue above consensus targets. However, Altera shares were lately down 3% to $27.47.

Carbo Ceramics (CRR) said it has increased its quarterly dividend by 11% to 20 cents per share. The dividend is payable on Aug. 16 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 2. Shares of Carbo Ceramics were down 1% to $78.20.

In other dividend news, Resources Connection (RECN) said it has established a regular quarterly dividend of 4 cents per share. The first dividend will be payable on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record on Aug. 18. However, shares fell 3.6% to $12.40 after the company's fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $133.9 million was below the Thomson Reuters average estimate of $134.9 million.

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-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

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