The Washington Post Company (WPO) recently boosted shareholders’ dividend by 4.7%. The Board of Directors has approved an increase in the annual dividend to $9.00 (or $2.25 quarterly) from $8.60 per share (or $2.15 quarterly).

The Washington Post said that the increased quarterly dividend of $2.25 per share will be paid on Feb 5, 2010, to shareholders of record as of Jan 27, 2010.

The Washington Post, which owns Kaplan Education, Television Broadcasting, Cable Television, Newspaper and Magazine Publishing businesses, also notified that its Board has approved the repurchase of up to 750,000 shares of its Class B common shares with no ceiling price or time limit defined for the repurchase. The Washington Post hinted that currently there are about 8 million Class B shares outstanding.

Nearly one-third of the The Washington Post’s revenue comes from businesses that are in secular decline, newspapers and broadcasting. As readers migrate to the Internet and TV viewers seek other forms of entertainment (e.g. cable and Internet), ad dollars for the company have shrunk. Though times are tough, The Washington Post’s diversified business mix Education and Cable Television divisions are well positioned to weather the downturn.

In a separate story, another publishing company, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (MHP) announced its 37th consecutive annual increase in quarterly dividend by 4.4% to $0.235 from $0.225 per share. The increased dividend will be paid on Mar 10, 2010, to shareholders of record as of Feb 24, 2010.

McGraw-Hill has regularly paid dividend since 1937. Since 1974, the company has boosted its dividend at a 9.9% CAGR, and is now among those S&P 500 companies (less than 30), which have increased their dividend annually for the last 37 years. The current annualized dividend is $0.94.

One of the leading global information services providers in financial services, education and business information, The McGraw-Hill hinted its intention to resume share repurchases in 2010. The company will buy back 17.1 million shares remaining under the share repurchase program authorized by the Board in 2007.

Zacks Investment Research

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