Hewlett-Packard Approves 10% Increase in Quarterly Dividend

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the world’s biggest personal-computer maker, authorized a 10 percent increase in its quarterly dividend, which the company expects to declare in May.

The current dividend, payable on April 4, will remain at 12 cents a share, the Palo Alto, California-based company said today in a regulatory filing. Hewlett-Packard last raised its dividend in 2011.

The company is working to reverse a slide in its stock price that has erased more than $35 billion from its market value over the past year. Under Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman, who took the reins in September, Hewlett-Packard is restructuring the company’s business divisions and investing more in research and development.

At the company’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this week, Whitman said Hewlett-Packard has “real financial challenges.” To streamline operations, she is combining the personal-computing and printing units into a group led by Todd Bradley, who ran the PC business.

Hewlett-Packard shares rose 2.6 percent to $23.63 at the close today in New York.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner in San Francisco at nturner7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net