Harman International Industries – HAR – Doubles Annual Dividend

Harman International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE:HAR), the leading global audio and infotainment group, announced that its board of directors has adopted an annual cash dividend policy pursuant to which the company will increase its annual cash dividend to $0.60 per share, to be paid quarterly at the rate of $0.15 per share.  The higher rate represents a 100 percent increase over the prior quarterly rate of $0.075 per share.  The increased dividend will go into effect for the new fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2012, and the first quarterly payment will be in September 2012.

“The continued improvement in the company’s financial performance, including ten consecutive quarters of top and bottom line growth, has bolstered our confidence in our company and allowed us to again substantially increase our dividend,” said Dinesh C. Paliwal, the Company’s Chairman, President and CEO.  “Besides investing in R&D and growth initiatives, and buying back company stock, this dividend increase is another example of Harman’s commitment to returning value to our shareholders as we continue to build the longer term value of our company.”

About Harman – HAR

Harman (HAR) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. HAR is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HAR has a workforce of about 13,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.3 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2012. The company’s shares are traded on the New York NYSE:HAR.

Harman International Industries, Incorporated (Harman International) is engaged in the developing, manufacturing and marketing of audio products and electronic systems. The Company has four segments: automotive, consumer, professional and other. On September 13, 2010, the Company acquired Aha Mobile, Inc., a provider of on-demand mobile and location-based Internet content services. On February 10, 2011, the Company acquired 3dB Research Ltd, a developer of music and signal processing technology. On July 22 2011, the Company acquired MWM Acoustics.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.