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Shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) are up 26 cents, or 0.6%, at $41.75 in late trading after the company this afternoon announced it would raise its regular quarterly dividend 50%, to 12 cents per share per quarter, and set a goal of increasing annual payouts by "double digits," it said.

HP made the announcement as part of its "strategy day" meeting between HP CEO Leo Apotheker and Wall Street analysts. The new rate is not applicable to the dividend that was recently declared for April 6th, which will remain at 8 cents, the company said.