
Assessing Disney’s Strategy to Return Value to Its Shareholders
By Sophia NicholsonMar. 5 2018, Updated 10:31 a.m. ET
Disney consistently returns capital value
The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has a long history of paying dividends to its shareholders. It has also returned capital value to shareholders through share buybacks.
In fiscal 2017, the media behemoth returned a total of $11.8 billion to its shareholders via dividends and buybacks, compared to $9.8 billion in fiscal 2016, $9.2 billion in fiscal 2015, and $7.0 billion in fiscal 2014.
Share buybacks and dividends
In fiscal 1Q18, the media company paid ~$1.3 billion worth of capital to its shareholders through a total buyback of 12.8 million shares. For fiscal 2018, the company expects to repurchase shares worth $6 billion, which it has been repurchasing over the past five years.
Disney raised its semiannual dividend to $0.84 in November 2017, and it paid this dividend on January 11, 2018, to its shareholders of record as of December 11, 2017. The semiannual dividend of $0.84 per share was higher than the dividend of $0.78 per share the company paid in July 2017, bringing its total fiscal 2017 dividend to $1.62 per share.
Bob Iger, the chair and CEO of Disney, believes in Disney’s iconic brands and franchises and expects its key brands to offer strong returns to its shareholders.