Recent Dividend Increases

As a dividend growth investor, one of the primary objectives I seek is passive dividend income from my investments that increases over the rate of inflation, annually. It’s always wonderful news when companies decide to reward loyal long-term shareholders with a dividend raise. Dividend raises typically mean operations are doing well and management is confident enough about cash flows to give shareholders a raise. All in all, it’s a good sign.

I try to keep my eyes peeled for dividend raises from companies I’m invested in, as well as companies on my watch list. Some recent dividend increases include:

Harris Corporation (HRS) recently hiked its dividend by 13.5%, now paying out $0.42 quarterly per share. This is a nice increase from the old rate of $0.37 per share. I’m a happy shareholder in Harris, and I may even think about increasing my position as operations continue to do well and shares are currently attractively priced with a P/E of 14 and a yield of 2.90%.  Harris now has 12 years of consecutive dividend raises under its belt. Great stuff!

Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) gave shareholders a nice raise, increasing its quarterly dividend by 10.6%. The new quarterly rate is $0.94 per share over the old dividend of $0.85. This is the 6th year of consecutive dividend raises, after being spun-off from Altria Group Inc. (MO) in 2008. Although PM is my biggest single position, I had seriously considered adding to it as shares had lingered for a few months. I decided against it as I’m trying to further diversify my portfolio, and going forward I’d like no one company being more than 5% of the portfolio. Nonetheless, this is a great holding and extremely shareholder friendly.

Altria Group Inc. (MO) joined its corporate cousin in handing out a generous dividend raise. They recently increased the dividend by 9.1%, now paying out $0.48 quarterly per share over the old rate of $0.44 per share. People keep counting MO out, and management keeps surprising investors and detractors alike. I recently increased my position in MO because I knew a dividend raise was on the way, my allocation to this company was relatively light and I thought it was attractively valued. This is the 45th year in a row that MO has raised the dividend, which is saying a lot about the management and culture of this company.

Realty Income Corp. (O) recently announced its 64th consecutive quarterly dividend raise, which is the 73rd dividend increase overall. The new rate adds up to $2.182 per share annually over the old rate of $2.179, which amounts to a .02% increase. Realty Income Corp. pays its dividend on a monthly basis. Although not much, this follows a much larger raise earlier this year and is on the back of an already above-average yield at 5.56%. O has 19 years of consecutive dividend raises, a mark it reached much earlier in the year. I’ve been aggressively building a position in this company, most recently adding to my position just earlier this month.

BHP Billiton plc (BBL) increased its semi-annual dividend by 3.5%, now paying out a new rate of $1.18 per share over the old rate of $1.14 per share. BBL now has 11 years of consecutive dividend raises it can brag about. BBL, like many foreign-based companies, pays its dividend on a semi-annual basis with an interim dividend payable in March and the final dividend payable in September. Although this raise wasn’t overly impressive or nearly as large as some of the raises it has given in recent years, it is a nice increase in the payout on the back of softening commodity prices. BBL’s profits have taken a hit lately, but the dividend is still well-covered and the company is showing its true colors by increasing the dividend during a rough patch in the business cycle.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) raised its dividend for the second time this year, recently announcing a 3.3% increase to $0.62 CAD quarterly per share over the old quarterly rate of $0.60 CAD per share. This raise comes on the back of a 5.3% increase earlier this year. Obviously, shareholders should be very happy with this second raise and with BNS being the most international of all the Canadian banks, business should continue to do well and allow dividend increases for the foreseeable future.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) raised its dividend in kind for the second time this year as well, which shows the Canadian bank’s willingness to return cash to shareholders in meaningful ways. The recent dividend raise amounts to 4.7%, with the new payout of $0.85 CAD quarterly per share a nice increase over the old rate of $0.81 CAD per share. This raise comes after a 4.9% increase earlier this year. I’m a happy TD shareholder and plan on remaining so for as long as they continue this type of behavior.

How about you? Own a piece of any of these companies? Are you happy with these raises? 

Full Disclosure: Long all aforementioned securities.

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Edit: Corrected HRS dividend increase information.

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31 Comments

  1. I love it when dividends increase by as little as 3%. As this has been the biggest annual raise I have gotten as an employee. One key difference between dividend raises and salary raises are the facts that dividends don’t have caps =)

  2. FFDividend,

    Absolutely! I can’t ever remember a time I turned down more money. 🙂

    The great thing is that I can roll these increased dividends into even bigger equity stakes which will then give out further raises. I love compounding!

    Best regards.

  3. Investing Early,

    Great point there! Even a small raise like 3% is still pretty solid when you compare it to the type of raise you might get from your day job.

    The above list represents seven different raises for me, some from companies that already gave me a raise just a few months ago. And that’s just another reason it’s a great idea to move from the working class to the investor class – the raises are bigger and faster.

    Best wishes!

  4. I’m very happy to see the O increase, especially now that I am proud O owner! I just can’t wait to see the dividends come in every month.

  5. Thanks for keeping track of the dividend raises DM. I also own TD, BNS, O, MO and PM. Delighted to see some further raises which get me closer to my goal of receiving $25,000 a year in dividends.

  6. Hi DM, I own BBL, PM, O. I got money sitting in my bank account – got a big watch list, want to buy KO, JNJ, PG, WMT, GE, MCD, CG, TD, WFG – when is this market correction going to happen !!!

    J from London

  7. Spoonman,

    Great to have you on board as a fellow shareholder! I’m in good company. 🙂

    Gotta love those monthly dividends. It’s like a rent check without the hassle.

    Take care.

  8. MFIJ,

    You just received three raises! Not too bad simply for being a shareholder in high quality companies. I really like PM, and it’s my largest position. I really wanted to add to it recently, but diversification remains a priority for me.

    Hopefully we’ll get more opportunities to add to these companies at attractive prices soon.

    Cheers!

  9. $25000 dividends,

    I hope you keep up the great progress towards $25k in yearly dividends. I really wish you the best of luck!

    It’s nice we both got some very nice raises. More money to keep greasing the compounding machine works very well for me.

    Best regards.

  10. Captain Dividend,

    I’m with you. Small, but consistent raises are fine by me. Like you, it’s more than what the day job offers. I’ll take it! 🙂

    O has been very shareholder friendly over the years. Let’s hope it continues. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  11. Accumulating Assets,

    I can’t blame you for adding to PM. I went back and forth on whether or not to add to it as well. My position in PM is already a bit larger than I feel comfortable with, so I refrained. But, I definitely seen the value there in the low $80’s.

    I agree with you. Not too many companies that have the kind of track record that MO and PM do. It’s good to be invested in companies that are extremely shareholder friendly.

    Keep up the great work!

    Best regards.

  12. Chris,

    Thanks for stopping by.

    It’s funny that you mention the word “jobs”. I was actually just putting the finishing touches on a post that alludes to that – dividends as “job” income that you don’t have to work for. It’ll go live tomorrow. Hope you enjoy. 🙂

    I haven’t run the numbers you’re talking about, but I just may. I also love forecasting numbers and imagining my life years from now. Sometimes I need to be more present, but sometimes it’s also fun to daydream.

    Best wishes!

  13. Good info Jason!

    Don’t ya love it when 7 of your part-time “jobs” all get raises without even having to ask? Ever figure out how much money that puts in your pocket over a 40 year period? I am probably easily entertained but its fun to run the numbers on stuff like that. It reminds us we are making good long term choices.

    Take care,
    Chris

  14. Have you considered just buying a dividend etf like DVY or SDY? Wouldn’t that be a lot less work, and less costly in commissions, than picking individual companies?

  15. DM – Harris was paying $0.37/quarter at the beginning of 2013. I think you meant to say the dividend was recently increased to $0.42/quarter.

  16. Anonymous,

    Geez! Thanks for correcting me. I must have been looking at an old spreadsheet on that. My bad. I’ve since edited the post reflecting the correct information.

    Thanks again! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  17. Today Microsoft announced a whopping 22% dividend increase! I am a very happy MSFT shareholder right now. I think they wanted to send a message to shareholders that just because Ballmer is leaving doesn’t mean their shareholder friendliness will go away.

    Yeepee!

  18. Spoonman,

    Wasn’t expecting that. What a whopper. Very nice!

    I regret passing on MSFT. I loved the cash cow element of licensing and the Office products, but felt the lack of innovation would catch up to them sooner rather than later as they operate in an extremely competitive and constantly evolving space. We’ll see how it turns out over the long haul, but I should have hopped on the train when it was cheap!

    Best regards.

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