Dividend increase: Saputo

Article Excerpt

SAPUTO INC. $43 (Toronto symbol SAP; High-Growth Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 386.2 million; Market cap: $16.6 billion; Divd. yield: 1.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.saputo.com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products. It also operates dairies in the U.S., Australia and Argentina. The company will raise its quarterly dividend in September 2017 by 6.7%, to $0.16 from $0.15. The new annual rate of $0.64 yields 1.5%. Saputo earned $200.3 million in its fiscal 2018 first quarter ended June 30, 2017. That’s up 13.4% from $176.7 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose at a faster rate of 15.9%, to $0.51 from $0.44, on fewer shares outstanding. Sales gained 9.9%, to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion. That’s partly due to higher cheese and butter prices. Favourable currency exchange rates also added $60 million to sales in the latest quarter. Saputo is a hold. hold…