Sonoco Pays About 65% of Its Profit As Dividend

Sonoco

disclosed that its board has declared a $0.37 per share quarterly common stock dividend. It meant that the company has a payout ratio of approximately 65 percent, which was higher than the five-year average payout ratio of 59.0 percent. Sonoco said that the dividend would be paid on September 9 to its shareholders, whose names appear on their record book of August 12. Its president and CEO, Jack Sanders, said that this was the 365th straight quarter, dating back to 1925, that the Company has paid dividends to its shareholders. Also, for 19 straight years, the company boosted its dividend rate. As a result, its average dividend growth rate for the five-year period was 4.69 percent while it was 5.50 percent for the three-year period. The dividend offered 2.9 percent yield, which was lower than the average 3.2 percent yield for the five-year period. On Wednesday, shares of the company edged up by 0.02 percent.