Shares of Sturm, Ruger & Co. rallied toward a four-month high Thursday, after the firearm maker said it would pay a special dividend of $5 a share.

Shareholders of record on Deb. 15 will be paid the special dividend on Jan. 5, 2023, the company said late Wednesday. With 17.67 million shares outstanding as of Oct. 17, that represents a total payout by the company of about $88.3 million.

The stock RGR, +10.27% climbed 8.4% in morning trading Thursday, putting it on track for the best one-day performance since it hiked up 12.1% on Jan. 6, 2021.

Based on current stock prices, the special dividend by itself would imply a dividend yield of 8.40%, which compares with the implied yield for the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.09% of 1.65%.

In 2022, the company paid regular quarterly dividends totaling $2.42 a share, implying a dividend yield of 4.07%. The per-share dividends paid were 86 cents in March, 68 cents in May, 47 cents in August and 41 cents in November. The dividends paid vary every quarter, because the company pays a percentage of earnings rather than a fixed amount per share.

The last time Sturm, Ruger paid a special dividend was the $5.00-per-share dividend it paid in August 2020. That year, the company paid total dividends of $6.51 per share, including $1.51 in regular dividends, to bring the dividend yield to 10.00% at the Dec. 31, 2020 closing price of $65.07.

The stock has run up 13.5% over the past three months but has declined 12.5% year to date, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.09% has tacked on 2.3% the past three months and lost 14.9% this year.

Source: finance.yahoo.com