Cat increases cash dividend

Caterpillar Inc.'s board of directors on Wednesday raised the company's quarterly cash dividend by 13 percent, declaring a dividend of 52 cents a share.

The action came before the company's annual meeting of shareholders in San Antonion, Texas.

The dividend, an increase over the previous cash quarterly dividend of 46 cents a share, will be payable Aug. 2 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 20, the company said in a news release.

"As part of our strategy, over the business cycle, we aim to deliver total stockholder return in the upper 25 percent of the S&P 500 and this 13 percent increase in our dividend represents our continued commitment to providing value to stockholders," said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.

"Further demonstrating our track record of rewarding stockholders over the years, including the announcement today, Caterpillar has paid higher dividends to stockholders for 19 years in a row, and during the last 10 years, our total stockholder return has been 322 percent, which is in the top 25 percent of the S&P 500. In addition, the company has paid a cash dividend every year since 1925 and has paid a dividend every quarter since November 1933," Oberhelman added.

"We believe dividend payments are a good way to reward long term investors in Caterpillar, and we hope policy makers in the United States will take steps to change tax policy rather than punishing long term investors. Without such a change, the tax rate on dividend income will nearly triple for many stockholders next year."

The $0.52 dividend is an increase of 13 percent over the previous rate of $0.46 per share.

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).