OREANDA-NEWS. Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of USD 0.40 per share, a 100 percent increase over the USD 0.20 per share dividend paid in each of the prior four quarters. The USD 0.40 per share dividend will be payable on Dec. 12, 2014, to shareholders of record on Nov. 28, 2014.

The Board of Directors also authorized an increase in the company's share repurchase program from USD 300 million to USD 600 million and extended the term of the program from Oct. 31, 2017, to Oct. 31, 2019.

"Increasing the quarterly cash dividend and the share repurchase program affirms our commitment to a balanced cash deployment strategy and further demonstrates our confidence in the company's performance and our ability to achieve 9-plus percent operating margin in 2015," said Mike Petters, HII's president and CEO.

Purchases under the share repurchase program may be made from time to time at the discretion of management in the open market, through privately negotiated transactions or through other means, are subject to prevailing market conditions and other factors, and may be suspended or discontinued at any time.

Huntington Ingalls Industries designs, builds and manages the life-cycle of the most complex nuclear and conventionally-powered ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. For more than a century, HII's Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. HII also provides engineering and project management services expertise to the commercial energy industry, the Department of Energy and other government customers. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs more than 39,000 people operating both domestically and internationally.