Tyson Foods declares dividend

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 196 views 

Springdale-based Tyson Foods said it will pay its shareholders of Class A stock a cash dividend $0.225 per share. Class B shareholders, which is limited to the Tyson Family holdings from the estate of Don Tyson, will be paid $0.2025 cents per share.

The company said the dividend is payable on Dec. 15, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 1. The quarterly dividend is in line with the previous quarter. Tyson Foods’ largest shareholders include the Tyson Limited Partnership, family shares owned by the Tyson family.

The 70 million shares of Class B shares owned by the Tyson Family Partnership carry a 10:1 voting privilege of the publicly traded Class A shares.

As of the last proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the largest shareholders of Class A stock are institutional traders:

  • Vanguard Group – 25.825 million shares
  • T. Rowe Price Associates – 21.433 million shares
  • BlackRock Inc.- 20.159 million shares

Other shareholders with significant share holdings include:

  • John Tyson, board chairman and grandson of founder -3.035 million shares of Class A stock.
  • Donnie Smith, former CEO – 2.194 million shares of Class A stock.

Shares of Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) closed Thursday at $64.87, up $0.21. For the past 52 weeks Tyson shares have traded as high as $77.05 and as low as $55.72.