AFOP Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc.

Leading predictive analytics company Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) recently declared a cash dividend of 2 cents per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2013. The dividend is payable on Jun 12 to shareholders on record of May 28. Based on the closing price of $50.17 as on May 15, the dividend payout affirms a yield of 0.16%.

Fair Isaac has been regularly paying quarterly dividends since 1997. The company had earlier increased its quarterly dividend by 50% from 1 cent ($0.01333) to 2 cents per share in May 2004. Prior to that, the company had raised its quarterly dividend payout in Jun 2002 from less than a cent per share ($0.00889) to 1 cent ($0.01333).

The company has cash and cash equivalents of $131.15 million as on Mar 31, 2013. During the last reported quarter, Fair Isaac used $0.715 million towards dividend payments.

In addition to steady quarterly dividends, Fair Isaac plans to return significant cash to shareholders through its share repurchase program. In Aug 2012, the company’s Board of Directors approved a $150 million stock repurchase program through the open market or negotiated transaction with no specified deadline.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Fair Isaac uses analytics to predict consumer behavior and drive smarter decisions for industries, to help them advertise their products along with managing company-specific risks.

Fair Isaac currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We believe that regular dividend payouts and share repurchases by management will help boost investor confidence.

Some other stocks within the Computer and Technology sector worth mentioning are Unisys Corporation (UIS), Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. (AFOP) and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM), each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
 

 
ALLIANCE FIBER (AFOP): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
AKAMAI TECH (AKAM): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
FAIR ISAAC INC (FICO): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
UNISYS (UIS): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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