Dr Pepper Snapple: First-Ever Dividend

Plano, TX. (TheStreet) -- Dr Pepper Snapple(DPS Quote) has announced its first quarterly dividend ever.

Dr Pepper Snapple, the maker of flavored beverages, today declared a 15 cent per share dividend on the company's common stock, which will be paid to shareholders on January 8 of next year.

Its board has also given Dr Pepper Snapple the green light to repurchase up to $200 million of the company's outstanding common stock over the next three years.

The maker of big brands like Dr Pepper, 7Up, Sunkist, Snapple and Mott's is only a year and a half into its life as a public company.

Dr Pepper says that while the economy is showing signs of recovery, it is still too early to see that translate into higher beverage sales.

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In the third quarter, the company posted a profit of 59 cents per share, up from 41 cents per share from the year before. Factors like lower packaging and ingredients costs could lower the company's costs by less than 4%.

Clorox(CLX Quote), the maker of bleach, announced a regular quarterly dividend of 50 cents on the company's common stock earlier this week.

Dividends from consumer goods companies have generally held up in the economic downturn, paying out unchanged or higher dividends.