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Two well-known food companies, a major prescription drug distributor and a major financial services company reported a double-digit dividend increase this week.
Scott Eells / Bloomberg
Hershey (HSY), known for its chocolate bars and other products, declared a quarterly dividend of 72.2 cents a share on its common shares, up from 65.6 cents previously. That's a 10% increase. The stock gives 2.6%.
Mondelez International (MDLZ) declared a quarterly dividend of 26 cents per share, up 4 cents or 18%. The company manufactures and distributes snacks and drinks. Its brands include Oreo cookies, Ritz cookies and Cadbury chocolate. The yield on the stock is 2%, higher than 1.9% for the S & P 500.
Charles Schwab (SCHW), a financial services company, is another company that plans to increase its quarterly payment.
The company's board declared a quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share, up 30 percent from the previous 10 cents. The stock gives 0.8%. This is the second dividend increase this year for the company, which raised its dividend to 8 cents in January.
Elsewhere, McKesson (MCK) plans to increase its quarterly dividend by 5 cents a share to 39 cents per share. It's almost a 15% increase. The drug distributor's shares gave up 1.1% recently.
Large companies pay good dividend increases.
In the second quarter, the S & P 500 companies paid a record $ 111.6 billion in cash dividends, up 7% from the previous year, according to the company. S & P Dow Jones Indices. For the year, dividends have a chance to regain double-digit growth for the first time since 2014, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S & P Dow Jones Indices.
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