Dividend Increases, January 1-15, 2014

Mid-month and time again to report on recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list. I compile this information from a screening feature available to subscribers at Dividend.com. Monitoring dividend increases over time is one way to assess the long-term health of dividend paying companies. For stocks I own in DivGro, dividend increases imply that my yield on cost increases.

The following table provides a summary of recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list, sorted by the last column, %Increase. Dividend amounts are annualized.

Dividend Increases: Jan 1 - Jan 15, 2014

Company	Ticker	Price (Jan 15)	Previous Dividend	New Dividend	Current Yield	%Increase
Shaw Communications, Inc.	SJR	22.62	1.02	1.10	4.86%	+7.84
ONEOK, Inc.	OKE	64.86	1.52	1.60	2.47%	+5.26
Teekay LNG Partners LP	TGP	42.67	2.70	2.77	6.49%	+2.64
Teekay Offshore Partners LP	TOO	32.42	2.10	2.15	6.64%	+2.49
Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.	OHI	31.25	1.92	1.96	6.27%	+2.08
Targa Resources Partners LP	NGLS	50.54	2.93	2.99	5.92%	+2.05
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP	KMP	80.53	5.40	5.44	6.76%	+0.74

Previous post: Dividend Increases: Dec 16 - Dec 31, 2013

I own the highlighted stock, Shaw Communications, Inc. (SJR), which posted strong quarterly financial results this week and announced a dividend increase of nearly 8%. This monthly dividend payer will increase its dividend to $1.10 annually. Stockholders of record on March 12 will receive the increased dividend.

The board of directors of ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) increased the quarterly dividend by 2¢ per share, to 40¢ per share. The increased dividend is payable February 18, to shareholders of record on February 10. In
April 2014, OKE expects to increase its dividend to 56¢ per share, following the separation of the company's natural gas distribution segment into ONE Gas, Inc. This further increase of 40 percent is subject to board approval. 

Teekay LNG Partners LP (TGP) announced a quarterly dividend of 69.18¢ per unit, payable on February 14 to unit holders of record on January 31. This represents an increase of 2.64% over the prior quarter distribution. 

Teekay Offshore Partners LP (TOO) increased its cash distribution by 2.49% to 53.84¢ per unit. The cash distribution is payable on February 14, to all unit holders of record on January 31.

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) increased their quarterly dividend by $0.01 per share over the previous quarter. The dividend is payable February 17, to stockholders of record on January 31.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, LP (KMP) increased its quarterly cash distribution to $1.36, or $5.44 annualized, payable on February 14. Unitholders of record on January 31 will receive the increased distribution. KMP has increased its distribution 50 times since current management took over in February 1997.

Targa Resources Partners LP (NGLS) declared a quarterly cash distribution of 74.75¢ per unit, payable to unit holders of record on January 27. The distribution represents an increase of approximately 2% over the previous quarter's distribution and 10% over the distribution from the year ago quarter.