3M marks 100 years of dividends

Article Excerpt

3M COMPANY $166 (New York symbol MMM; Income Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & In- dustry sector; Shares outstanding: 604.4 million; Market cap: $100.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 2.7%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.3m.com) started up in 1902, when it was called the Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company. The company started off making sandpaper and abrasives for industrial clients. It later developed other consumer and manufacturing-related goods, such as pressure-sensitive masking and packaging tape, audio-recording tape and reflective highway markings. Today, 3M makes more than 60,000 items, including air purifiers, medical device components and bandages. Top-selling brands include Post-it notes, Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite cleaning products, Scotchguard protection and Thinsulate insulation. 3M has a presence in many countries. Sales from outside the U.S. now account for two-thirds of its total, up from around half in 2000. With its September 2016 quarterly dividend payment of $1.11 a share, 3M has now paid dividends continuously for the past century. It has also increased the…