Dividend Increases, October 16-31, 2014

I'm rather late in reporting on dividend increases for the last half of October. My source for dividend information, dividend.com, is experiencing a system issue that is not allowing premium users to filter dividend increases by date. So far, my requests to have the issue fixed have not been addressed, which is rather disappointing. I'll probably cancel my subscription.

Out of necessity, I've developed an alternative method to find and report on dividend increases. This took some time, but I'm happy that I won't be depending on a service that is rather unresponsive to customer's requests and suggestions. (Twice, I've suggested a feature that would be significantly improve functionality and would be trivial to add, yet it remains "under consideration").

Along with this change in process, I'll be changing the frequency and format of these posts. Rather than posting twice a month, I'll report on dividend increases weekly. Doing so will allow me to do the work over weekends, which will be more convenient anyway. I'm still working on the new format, so look out for my next post on dividend increases!

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks in my watch list is a useful way to identify dividend growth candidates, because companies that increase their dividends regularly show confidence in future earnings growth. Another reason for monitoring dividend increases is to track the yield on cost (YoC) of stocks I own. When dividends are increased, I make YoC adjustments and update DivGro's projected annual dividend income. 

In this period, two of DivGro's holdings announced dividend increases. AFL increased its quarterly dividend by 5.41%, while ETP announced a more modest distribution increase of 2.09%. The size of ETP's increase is a little misleading, though, as the partnership has raised its distribution for five straight quarters. Over the past year, the increase totals 7.73%!

Below is a table of dividend increases announced in the last two weeks of October, sorted by the last column, %Increase. Dividend amounts are annualized.

Dividend Increases: October 16-31, 2014

Company	Ticker	Price (Nov 7)	Previous Dividend	New Dividend	Current Yield	%Increase
Parker-Hannifin Corp	PH	128.50	1.92	2.52	1.96%	+31.25
Cardinal Financial Corp	CFNL	18.87	0.32	0.40	2.12%	+25.00
VF Corp	VFC	69.79	1.05	1.28	1.83%	+21.90
MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc	MSM	83.65	1.32	1.60	1.91%	+21.21
Texas Instruments Inc	TXN	50.90	1.20	1.36	2.67%	+13.33
Evercore Partners Inc	EVR	50.63	1.00	1.12	2.21%	+12.00
American Electric Power Co Inc	AEP	58.32	2.00	2.12	3.64%	+6.00
AFLAC Inc	AFL	58.89	1.48	1.56	2.65%	+5.41
ONEOK, Inc	OKE	57.26	2.30	2.36	4.12%	+2.61
Stag Industrial Inc	STAG	24.65	1.32	1.35	5.48%	+2.27
Energy Transfer Partners, LP	ETP	66.01	3.82	3.90	5.91%	+2.09
Exterran Partners, LP	EXLP	27.43	2.17	2.21	8.06%	+1.84

Previous post: Dividend Increases: October 1-15, 2014

I own shares in AFL and ETP:

• AFLAC Inc (AFL) | growth 32 yrs | yield 2.65% @ $58.89 | 5-yr CAGR 8.1% | 10-yr CAGR 16.8%
I purchased shares of AFL in April 2013. The company is a leading provider of voluntary worksite insurance in the United States and the leading primary life insurance provider in Japan. Its individual and group insurance products provide coverage to more than 50 million people worldwide. In 2014, Fortune magazine recognized AFL as one of the best 100 companies to work for in America, for the 16th consecutive year.  The company declared a new quarterly dividend of 39¢ per share, payable to shareholders of record on November 19. The dividend will be paid on December 1. The increase adds $4.00 to DivGro's projected annual dividend income while YoC increases to 3.12%.

• Energy Transfer Partners (ETP)  | growth 2 yrs | yield 5.91% @ $66.01 | 5-yr CAGR n/a
ETP is the third stock I purchased for DivGro. A master limited partnership (MLP), ETP owns and operates one of the largest and most diversified portfolios of energy assets in the United States. These assets include approximately 35,000 miles of natural gas and natural gas liquids pipelines, as well as ownership and incentive distribution rights in several companies and other MLP's, including Sunoco Logistics Partners (SXL) and Susser Petroleum Partners (SUSP). On October 21, ETP announced an increase of its quarterly distribution to 97.5¢ a share. The increase adds $8.00 to DivGro's projected annual dividend income. YoC is now 8.22%.

Of the other dividend increases in this period, the following impress with increases topping at least 12%:

• Parker-Hannifin Corp (PH) | growth 58 yrs | yield 1.96% @ $128.50 | 5-yr CAGR 14.1% | 10-yr CAGR 13.4%
With annual sales of $13 billion in fiscal year 2014, PH is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a variety of mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. On October 22, the company declared a quarterly dividend of 63¢ per share, payable on December 5 to shareholders of record on November 10.

• Cardinal Financial Corp (CFNL) | growth 5 yrs | yield 2.12% @ $18.87 | 5-yr CAGR 41.9%
Headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, CFNL is a financial holding company serving the Washington Metropolitan region through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cardinal Bank. CFNL operates two other subsidiaries, one providing residential mortgage loans and another wealth management services. On Wednesday, October 22, the company increased its quarterly dividend to 10¢ per share. The dividend is payable on November 21 to shareholders of record on November 6.

• VF Corp (VFC) | growth 42 yrs | yield 1.83% @ $69.79 | 5-yr CAGR 9.5% | 10-yr CAGR 13.7%

VFC is a global leader in the design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories. The company owns powerful brands including The North Face, Vans, Timberland, Wrangler, Lee and Nautica. VFC will pay a quarterly dividend of 32¢ per share on December 19 to shareholders of record on December 9.

• MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc (MSM) | growth 12 yrs | yield 1.91% @ $83.65 | 5-yr CAGR 10.1% | 10-yr CAGR 28.5%

MSM is one of the largest distributors of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations supplies to industrial customers throughout North America. MSM distributes nearly 800,000 industrial products from about 3,000 suppliers. On October 22, the company declared a dividend of 40¢ per share, payable on November 26 to shareholders of record on November 18. 

• Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) | growth 11 yrs | yield 2.67% @ $50.90 | 5-yr CAGR 21.1% | 10-yr CAGR 28.8%

TXN is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. The company's products are designed to accomplish many things, including converting and amplifying signals, interfacing with other devices, managing and distributing power, processing data, canceling noise and improving signal resolution. On Thursday, October 16, TXN increased its quarterly dividend to 34¢ per share. The dividend is payable on November 17 to shareholders of record on October 31.

• Evercore Partners Inc (EVR) | growth 8 yrs | yield 2.21% @ $50.63 | 5-yr CAGR 13.6%
EVR is a leading independent investment banking advisory firm serving clients around the world. EVR advises business clients on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, restructuring, financing and public offerings. It also provides investment management services, including wealth management, institutional asset management and private equity investing. EVR will pay a quarterly dividend of 28¢ per share on December 12 to shareholders of record on November 28.

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

Full Disclosure: Long AFL, ETP

Do you own shares of any of these companies (or do you plan to buy any of them)?