FMC Corporation (FMC) will raise its quarterly dividend by 9.1 percent to 48 cents per share in 2020. This comes after a 10.0 percent hike to $0.44 per share by FMC last year and marks the third dividend hike since 2015 for the agricultural chemicals company. 

The next dividend is payable on January 21, 2021, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 31, 2020. A new annualized dividend rate of $1.92 per share yields 1.6% at a stock price of $118.16.

"Today's announcement reflects our policy to increase the dividend by at least the same rate of net income growth, as a part of our overall commitment to return excess cash to shareholders," said Andrew Sandifer, executive vice president and chief financial officer at FMC in today's press release announcing this new dividend hike.

FMC has gradually been raising its dividend since its 2006 inititation. The dividend was kept steady in both 2016 and 2017 before a big 142.4 percent hike was announced in 2018. The company currently pays an estimated $249 million in dividends to shareholders annually.

FMC Corporation is an agricultural sciences company. FMC provides solutions to growers around the world with a portfolio of proprietary crop protection products and a robust pipeline fueled by innovative discovery and development capabilities in crop protection, plant health and professional pest and turf maintenance solutions. The company's insect control products include Rynaxypyr and Cyazypyr branded active ingredients; Authority, Boral, Centium, Command and Gamit branded herbicides; Talstar and Hero branded insecticides; and flutriafol-based fungicides. The FMC portfolio also includes biologicals such as Quartzo and Presence bionematicides. In October 2018, FMC conducted an initial public offering of its Lithium business by spinning off Livent Corporation.