Global reach bolsters their dividends

Article Excerpt

PEPSICO INC. $106 (Nasdaq symbol PEP; Conservative-Growth Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $148.4 billion; Dividend yield: 3.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) is the world’s second-largest soft-drink maker after Coca-Cola. Its other brands include Frito-Lay snack foods, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana fruit juices and Quaker Oats cereals. Starting with its June 2018 payment, the company raised its quarterly dividend by 15.2%, to $0.9275 a share from $0.805. The new annual rate of $3.71 yields 3.5%. PepsiCo recently agreed to acquire Bare Foods Co. for an undisclosed sum. That privately held firm makes fruit and vegetable snack foods. Those products fit nicely into PepsiCo’s “Better for You” snack line. Meantime, overall sales in the quarter ended March 24, 2018, rose 4.3%, to $12.56 billion from $12.05 billion a year earlier. PepsiCo continues to make progress with a multi-year plan to improve its efficiency. That includes closing warehouses and automating more of its bottling plants. It expects to complete the plan by the…