Specialty food products maker Lancaster Colony (LANC) will raise its quarterly dividend by 10.0 percent to $0.44 per share, marking 51 consecutive years of increasing regular cash dividends.

At the current stock price of $84.48 the yield on the annual dividend is 2.1%. The dividend will be payable December 31, 2013 to shareholders of record on December 9, 2013.

John B. Gerlach, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Lancaster Colony, said the increased regular cash dividend reflects the company's continued strong financial position and will be the 202nd consecutive quarterly cash dividend paid by the company since September 1963. He noted that the indicated annual payout for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 is $1.72 per share, up from the $1.52 per share regular cash dividend paid in fiscal 2013, excluding the $5 per share special dividend paid in December 2012.

Lancaster Colony Corporation is a manufacturer and marketer of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice markets. Lancaster Colony is the parent of the T. Marzetti Company. The company's brands include Marzetti (salad dressings and dips), New York Brand (frozen garlic breads and croutons), Sister Schubert’s (homemade rolls) and Flatout (flatbread wraps). Lancaster Colony went public in 1969, the same year the company entered the specialty foods business with the purchase of the T. Marzetti Company. The company has paid consecutive quarterly dividends since 1963.