Updating 3M Company

Article Excerpt

3M COMPANY $186 (New York symbol MMM; IncomeGrowth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 596.2 million; Market cap: $110.9 billion; Dividend yield: 2.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.3m.com) makes over 60,000 consumer and industrial goods, including Post-It notes, Scotch tape, Scotchguard fabric protection and Thinsulate insulation. Starting with the March 2017 payment, the company will raise its quarterly dividend by 5.9%, to $1.175 a share from $1.11. The new annual rate of $4.70 yields 2.5%. 3M has increased that payout each year for the past 59 years. In the fourth quarter of 2016, overall sales rose 0.4%, to $7.33 billion from $7.30 billion a year earlier. If you factor out currency rates and businesses that 3M bought and sold, sales improved 1.6% in the quarter. Earnings gained 11.4%, to $1.2 billion from $1.0 billion. Due to fewer shares outstanding, pershare earnings rose 13.3%, to $1.88 from $1.66. The higher earnings are mainly due to gains from a restructuring…