YCHART DIVIDEND DAILY: Mattel Raises Dividend, Yield Approaches 4%; Done Toying With Shareholders?

by YCharts Staff February 16, 2012

Mattel (MAT), which for years paid super-high dividends, topping out at an unsustainable 83 cents a share in 2010, appears to have settled on a more moderate payout policy. The toy maker boosted its dividend 35% to 31 cents a share, or an annual rate of $1.24, on January 31, and the yield is currently about 3.8%. Mattel remains an aggressive buyer of its own shares, spending $536 million last year to buy in 20.4 million shares. The stock’s not super-cheap trading at nearly 15 times trailing earnings, but there’s room to further bump up the dividend. Other recent dividend increasers include Ball (BLL), Cabot Oil & Gas (COG), Limited (LTD), Macy’s (M) and SLM (SLM).

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