Dividend Aristocrat Stepan raises dividend 9.8% in 2021

Stepan stock currently yields 1.1%

Specialty chemicals maker Stepan Co (SCL) will raise its dividend by 9.8 percent to $0.335 per share in 2021, marking the 54th consecutive year of dividend increases.

Surfactants maker Stepan Company will increase its quarterly dividend to 33.5 cents per share. At a current stock price of $121.71 SCL yields 1.1%. Stepan pays an estimated $27 million in dividends to shareholders annually.

The Stepan Board of Directors also authorized the Company to repurchase up to $150,000,000 of its common stock. "Today's announcement demonstrates our confidence and commitment to deliver stockholder value through a disciplined capital allocation," said F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our strong balance sheet and solid cash flow generation will allow us to continue to invest in our current business, pursue strategic opportunities and return capital to our stockholders."

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The dividend of $0.335 per share is payable on December 15, 2021, to common stockholders of record on November 30, 2021. The increase marks the 54th consecutive year in which the quarterly dividend rate on the Company's common stock has increased. This gives Stepan the Dividend Aristocrat status which requires 25 years in a row of dividend increases.

Stepan Company is a major manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals used in a broad range of industries.  Stepan is a leading merchant producer of surfactants, which are the key ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning compounds and in agricultural and oilfield solutions.  The Company is also a leading supplier of polyurethane polyols used in the expanding thermal insulation market, and CASE (Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers) industries.