Stepan: 47 Consecutive Dividend Increases

I forgot to mention this, but a few weeks ago, Stepan ($SCL) raised its dividend for the 47th year in a row. It’s not much of an increase. The quarterly dividend is going from 17 to 18 cents per share. That gives the stock a yield of 1.64%.

What do they do? This is from Stepan’s corporate profile:

Stepan Company is a major manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals used in a broad range of industries. Stepan is a leading merchant producer of surfactants, which are the key ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning compounds. The Company is also a leading supplier of Polyurethane polyols used in the expanding thermal insulation market, and C.A.S.E. (Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers) industries.

Sexy, no? I often talk about how seemingly boring business can be very profitable.

Frankly. I think Stepan is keeping their dividend payout low so they can keep the streak alive. Ideally, I’d like to see companies pay out about one-third of their profits as dividends.

Stepan has had a rough year and the stock is down. SCL is currently down 35% from its 52-week high.

Posted by on November 11th, 2014 at 12:50 pm


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