The shareholders of Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE:DPS) have enjoyed strong capital gains to go with a steadily rising dividend.
The stock is up 22% this year, far outpacing the S&P 500's 7% increase. Furthermore, the company has raised its dividend every year since being spun off from British confectioner Cadbury Schweppes in 2008. Its three- to five-year dividend growth rate is 17%.
The latest increase was announced in February, when the Plano, Texas-based company hiked the quarterly payout by 7.9% to 41 cents a share, or $1.64 annually.
That works out to an annual dividend yield of 2.8% at the current share price, a nice premium to the S&P's average of 1.9%.
Dr Pepper Snapple, whose roots go back to 1885, owns more than 50 brands.
They include its namesake beverages as well as 7UP, A&W, Canada Dry, Crush and Hawaiian Punch.
As with many well-established companies, profit growth has been slow but steady.
