Wall Street may be pessimistic about newspaper stocks, but the Washington Post Company is rewarding its patient shareholders with more cash. The newspaper/TV/cable/magazine/education company has boosted its annual dividend by 40 cents to 8.60 per share.
The Washington Post Company’s stock has not been beaten down as badly as many other newspaper stocks, primarily because its education division, anchored by Kaplan, has been growing rapidly and is not dependent on advertising like its media businesses. Still, the stock fell 6.2% in 2007.
The increased quarterly dividend of 2.15 will be paid February 8th to shareholders of record on January 28th.
