HARTSVILLE, S.C., April 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Sonoco (NYSE:SON) today declared a $.41 per share quarterly common stock dividend, a 5.1 percent increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $.39 per share. The dividend will be paid on June 8, 2018, to shareholders of record as of May 11, 2018.
According to Rob Tiede, president and chief executive officer, this is the 36th consecutive year that Sonoco has grown common stock dividends and the 372nd consecutive quarter, dating back to 1925, that the Company has paid dividends to shareholders. Over the past five years, Sonoco has increased dividends by approximately 5.4 percent per year.
“Today’s dividend increase reflects our confidence in the continued earnings growth of Sonoco and our 93-year commitment to returning cash to our shareholders,” said Tiede. “Over the past five years, Sonoco has returned more than $925 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.”
Sonoco’s projected annualized dividend of $1.64 per share provides a yield of approximately 3.28 percent, based on the Company’s closing stock price of $49.96 on April 17, 2018. Sonoco’s dividend yield is one of the highest payouts provided by any U.S. packaging company and is approximately 70 percent higher than the dividend yield of the S&P 500.
About Sonoco
Founded in 1899, Sonoco (NYSE:SON) is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately $5 billion, the Company has 21,000 employees working in approximately 300 operations in 33 countries, serving some of the world’s best known brands in some 85 nations. Sonoco is committed to Better Packaging. Better Life., and ranked first in the Packaging sector on Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies 2018 list. For more information, visit www.sonoco.com.