Specialty food products maker Lancaster Colony (LANC) will increase its quarterly dividend by 4.5 percent to $0.46 per share in the fourth quarter of 2014, marking the 52nd consecutive year of dividend increases.

The increased dividend will be payable December 31, 2014 to shareholders of record on December 8, 2014. Last year LANC hiked its dividend by 15.8 percent.

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.