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Monday, September 15, 2014

Dividend Increases, September 1-15, 2014

I'm pleased when stocks in my watch list of dividend growth stocks announce dividend increases, even if I don't own the stocks in question. It reaffirms that those stocks belong in my watch list. Also, it prompts me to take a good look at them. Companies that regularly increase dividends, show confidence in their ability to pay those increasing dividends.

Another reason for monitoring dividend increase announcements is to see if stocks I own will be changing their dividend payments. If so, I make Yield on Cost (YoC) adjustments and update DivGro's projected annual dividend income. This month, one of DivGro's holdings, Philip Morris International Inc (PM), announced a dividend increase of 6.38%.

Below is a table of dividend increases announced for stocks in my watch list, during the first two weeks of September. Dividend amounts are annualized.

Dividend Increases: September 1-15, 2014

Company

Ticker
Price
(Sep 15)
Previous
Dividend
New
Dividend
Current
Yield

%Increase
Extra Space Storage, Inc. EXR 50.301.60 1.88 3.74% +17.50
Daktronics, Inc. DAKT 13.210.36 0.40 3.03% +11.11
Yum! Brands, Inc. YUM 71.741.48 1.64 2.29% +10.81
New Jersey Resources Corp NJR 50.601.68 1.80 3.56% +7.14
Philip Morris International Inc. PM 84.20 3.76 4.00 4.75% +6.38
Vector Group Ltd VGR 22.011.52 1.60 7.27% +5.26
BHP Billiton Limited (ADR) BHP 64.21 2.362.48 3.84% +5.08
Previous post: Dividend Increases: August 16-31, 2014

I own shares in PM:

Philip Morris International Inc (PM) | growth 6 yrs | yield 4.75% @ $84.20 | 5-yr CAGR 28.4%
Headquartered in New York City, PM is the leading international tobacco company, with seven of the world's top 15 international brands, including Marlboro, the number one cigarette brand worldwide. PM' products are sold in more than 180 markets. PM declared a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share on Wednesday, September 10. The dividend is payable on October 10 to shareholders of record on September 25. The increase adds $7.44 to DivGro's projected annual dividend income. YoC is now 4.92%.

Several stocks I don't own are raising their dividend by more than 7%:

Extra Space Storage, Inc. (EXR) | growth 5 yrs | yield 3.74% @ $50.30 | 5-yr CAGR 7.7%
EXR is real estate investment trust based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company has been involved in the self-storage industry since its inception 30 years ago. EXR's board of directors approved an increase in its quarterly dividend to 47¢ per share, an increase of 17.5%. The dividend is payable on September 30, to shareholders of record on September 15.

Daktronics, Inc. (DAKT) | growth 8 yrs | yield 3.03% @ $13.21 | 5-yr CAGR 27.2%
Incorporated on December 9, 1968, DAKT is one of the world's largest suppliers of electronic scoreboards, computer-programmable displays, and large screen video displays and control systems. Recently, DAKT increased its quarterly dividend to 10¢ per share, payable on September 26 to shareholders of record on September 15. The dividend increase just more than 11%.

Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) | growth 10 yrs | yield 2.29% @ $71.74 | 5-yr CAGR 15.1%
YUM is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system units, with about 38,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries. The company's brands include KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Recently, YUM's board of directors approved a dividend increase of about 11%. The quarterly cash dividend will increase to 41¢ per share, payable on November 7 to shareholders of record on October 15.

New Jersey Resources Corp (NJR) | growth 18 yrs | yield 3.56% @ $50.60 | 5-yr CAGR 8.2%
NJR is an exempt energy services holding company with annual revenues in excess of $3 billion. It provides retail and wholesale natural gas and related energy services to customers from the Gulf Coast to New England. NJR will pay a cash dividend of 42¢ per share on October 1. The new dividend represents an increase of 7.14%.

Please note that I'm not recommending any of these stocks. Readers should do their own research on these companies before buying shares.

Thanks for reading! Do any of these stocks look interesting to you?

10 comments :

  1. Solid raise by PM, given the high yield nature of the stock. I have also been looking at YUM as another position for my Loyal3 portfolio and the raise there did not disappoint as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi writing2reality -- thanks for stopping by!

      PM's raise is good, although I would have preferred at least 7.25% -- this raise falls just short of the Chowder rule (11.13% instead of 12%). Of course, PM's 5-year CAGR is still well above 7.25%, so I'm splitting hairs here.

      At nearly 11%, YUM's raise is great! Look's like an interesting candidate.

      Delete
  2. Any raise is good! I own PM here. How do you get updated on raises?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not complaining! Its a good raise and better than no raise... I'm a subscriber to dividend.com -- unfortunately, it still requires a lot of manual work to find raises for stocks in my watch list. I've suggested twice that they add a filter so I can limit the search to stocks in my watch list, but they're still "considering" it. I can't see how it would take more than a day to code up. Perhaps I'll have to resort to writing a program myself...

      Delete
  3. I don't own any of those stocks currently, but I think I should get an investment in a tobacco company. They have good steady profits and a customer base that is, well, lets just say loyal to the product. Plus I might not completely hate smelling cigarette smoke walking down the street when I can then internally laugh at the money I am getting for it. A little cynic, I know, but I really HATE smelling cigarette smoke, too much of it really effs up my allergies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I debated about investing in PM. As an ex-smoker who has postponed his next cigarette for several years now, it felt weird investing in an industry that had managed to hook me as a youngster. The dividends can't undo whatever damage had been done. But it may help in the long-run... BTW, as an ex-smoker, I'm hypersensitive to smelling cigarette smoke and absolutely HATE it myself!

      Delete
  4. Awesome, I own PM myself and I gotta love the unexpected raise. Philip Morris is a great company with solid products all around, now lets hope they start acquiring some of these cannabis companies that are making a killing in this new industry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, at 4.92% its one of DivGro's holdings the highest YoC! Gotta love that!

      Delete
  5. Was happy to get that PM raise as I own it. Great streak going. Yum brands starting to look good to me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by Asset-Grinder! I like increasing dividends! I don't own shares of Yum, but that certainly looks attractive!

      Delete

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