Dividend Increases, November 2014

Last time I reported on dividend increases, I mentioned that I wanted to increase the frequency and format of these posts. My idea is to post dividend increases weekly (on weekends) so information would be timely and potentially actionable. I'm still working on a way to do this effectively, so this post is a catch-up post until I get the process in place.

I monitor dividend increases for stocks in my watch list for two reasons. First, it is a convenient way to identify dividend growth candidates because companies that increase dividends regularly show confidence in future earnings growth. Second, I track the yield on cost (YoC) of stocks I own. When dividends increase, I make YoC adjustments and update DivGro's projected annual dividend income. 

This month, I tweaked the series of filters I use to trim down the CCC list to a more manageable number of stocks. The biggest change concerns dividend yield. I'm allowing more lower yielders to make the cut by requiring a dividend yield of at least 2% for Challengers, 1.5% for Contenders and 1% for Champions.

With this change (and others – see my watch list page) the number of watch list stocks increased to 288. Admittedly, that is a large number of stocks to keep track of! However, I do have a selection process that helps me concentrate on stocks trading at a discount to fair value, usually no more than 50 stocks at a time.

In the month of November, several of my watch list stocks announced dividend increases. The list is sorted by last column, %Increase, and dividend amounts are annualized:

Dividend Increases: November 1-30, 2014

Company	Ticker	Price (Dec 4)	Previous Dividend	New Dividend	Current Yield	%Increase
Hormel Foods Corp	HRL	52.50	0.80	1.00	1.90%	+25.00
AmTrust Financial Services Inc	AFSI	52.55	0.80	1.00	1.90%	+25.00
Johnson Controls Inc	JCI	49.90	0.88	1.04	2.08%	+18.18
Maiden Holdings, Ltd	MHLD	12.91	0.44	0.52	4.03%	+18.18
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc	SFG	67.59	1.10	1.30	1.92%	+18.18
The Valspar Corp	VAL	84.13	1.04	1.20	1.43%	+15.38
Rockwell Automation	ROK	116.30	2.32	2.60	2.24%	+12.07
Flowers Foods, Inc	FLO	19.01	0.48	0.53	2.79%	+10.42
Becton, Dickinson and Co	BDX	140.68	2.18	2.40	1.71%	+10.09
Prudential Financial Inc	PRU	86.90	2.12	2.32	2.67%	+9.43
Emerson Electric Co	EMR	64.56	1.72	1.88	2.91%	+9.30
Brown-Forman Corporation	BF-B	90.93	0.29	0.32	1.39%	+8.62
Intel Corporation	INTC	37.46	0.90	0.96	2.56%	+6.67
Vectren Corp	VVC	45.17	1.44	1.52	3.37%	+5.56
TELUS Corporation	TU	36.48	1.52	1.60	4.39%	+5.26
BOK Financial Corporation	BOKF	62.58	1.60	1.68	2.68%	+5.00
Laclede Group Inc	LG	51.68	1.76	1.84	3.56%	+4.55
Lancaster Colony Corp	LANC	94.23	1.76	1.84	1.95%	+4.55
York Water Co	YORW	20.76	0.57	0.60	2.88%	+4.47
MDU Resources Group Inc	MDU	23.94	0.71	0.73	3.05%	+2.82
Colony Financial Inc	CLNY	24.62	1.44	1.48	6.01%	+2.78
McCormick & Company, Inc	MKC	73.04	1.76	1.80	2.46%	+2.27
Automatic Data Processing	ADP	86.06	1.92	1.96	2.28%	+2.08
Williams Companies Inc	WMB	51.13	2.24	2.28	4.46%	+1.79
Buckeye Partners, L.P.	BPL	79.91	4.45	4.50	5.64%	+1.12

Previous post: Dividend Increases: October 16-31, 2014

The only DivGro holding that announced a dividend increase in November is Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). INTC is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. INTC makes motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors and other devices related to communications and computing. It is the world's largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue.

Since I purchased 120 shares in January 2013, the stock has done quite well. The price has increased 76% (40% annualized) and I've received dividends equaling 7.42% of my original investment. Many dividend growth investors got rid of their INTC shares because the company failed to raise its dividend for eleven straight quarters. I decided to hold onto my shares and I'm glad I did! This increase adds $7.20 to DivGro's projected annual dividend income and YoC increases to 4.53%.

There are some impressive double digit percentage increases in the list:

• Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE:HRL) | growth 49 yrs | 5-yr DGR 12.9% | 10-yr DGR 12.5%
Headquartered in Austin, Minnesota, HRL is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded food and meat products. Customers include retailers, hospitals, nursing homes and marketers of nutritional products. On 25 November, the company declared a quarterly dividend of 25¢ per share, payable on 17 February to shareholders of record on 20 January. The new dividend represents an increase of 25.00%.

• AmTrust Financial Services Inc (NASDAQ:AFSI) | growth 10 yrs | 3-yr DGR 28.4% | 5-yr DGR 27.5%
AFSI, a multinational insurance holding company headquartered in New York, NY, offers specialty property and casualty insurance products, including workers' compensation, commercial automobile, general liability and extended service and warranty coverage through its primary insurance subsidiaries. AFSI's board of directors approved an increase in its quarterly dividend to 25¢ per share, an increase of nearly 25.00%. The dividend is payable on 15 January, to shareholders of record on 2 January.

• Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE:JCI) | growth 5 yrs | 5-yr DGR 7.9% | 10-yr DGR 12.2%
Founded in 1885 and based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, JCI is a global technology and industrial company serving customers in more than 150 countries. The company manufactures products to optimize energy and operational efficiencies of buildings. It also manufactures lead-acid automotive bateries as well as advanced batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. On 21 November, the company declared a quarterly dividend of 26¢ per share, payable on 5 January to shareholders of record on 12 December.

• Maiden Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:MHLD) | growth 7 yrs | 3-yr DGR 11.5% | 5-yr DGR 29.2%
Founded in 2007 and based in Bermuda, MHLD is a holding company providing non-catastrophic, customized reinsurance products and services through subsidiaries. Customers include small and mid-size insurance companies in the United States and Europe. The board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 13¢ per share, payable on 15 January to stockholders of record on 2 January. The new dividend is 18.18% above the prior dividend of 11¢ per share.

• StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE:SFG) | growth 16 yrs | 5-yr DGR 8.0% | 10-yr DGR 12.1%
Through its subsidiaries marketed as The Standard, SFG is a leading provider of group life and disability insurance products. The company also provide products to fund retirement plans and other insurance products to employers and groups as well as life insurance, disability insurance and retirement products to individuals. The company's board of directors approved an increase in the quarterly dividend of 18.18% to 130¢ a share. The dividend is payable on 8 December to shareholders of record at the close of business on 24 November.

• Valspar Corp (NYSE:VAL) | growth 37 yrs | 5-yr DGR 10.4% | 10-yr DGR 11.9%
With origins tracing back to 1806, VAL is a global leader in the paint and coatings industry with a broad range of products including industrial, architectural, packaging, automotive refinish and floor coatings, and specialty polymers and colorants. Based in Minneapolis, MN, the company has over 10,000 employees in more than 25 countries. The board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 30¢ per share, payable on 19 December to stockholders of record on 8 December. The new dividend is 15.38% above the prior dividend of 26¢ per share.

• Rockwell Automation Inc (NYSE:ROK) | growth 5 yrs | 5-yr DGR 12.5% | 10-yr DGR 12.2%
Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ROK is a leading global provider of industrial automation power, control and information solutions that help customers meet their manufacturing productivity objectives. The company employs about 22,500 people serving customers in more than 80 countries. Recently, the board of directors of ROK declared a quarterly dividend of 65¢ per share. The dividend is payable on 10 December, to shareholders of record on 17 November.

• Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) | growth 13 yrs | 5-yr DGR 11.7% | 10-yr DGR 22.3%
Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia, FLO is one of the largest producers and marketers of a full line of frozen and non-frozen bakery and dessert products in the United States. Flowers Foods consists of Flowers Bakeries and Mrs. Smith's Bakeries. The board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 13.25¢ per share, payable on 19 December to stockholders of record on 5 December. The new dividend is 10.42% above the prior dividend of 12¢ per share.

• Becton Dickinson & Co (NYSE:BDX) | growth 43 yrs | 5-yr DGR 12.2% | 10-yr DGR 17.6%
BDX is a leading medical technology company engaged in the manufacture and sale of a broad line of supplies, devices and systems used by health care professionals, medical research institutions and the general public. The company has more than 30,000 associates in 50 countries. On Tuesday, 25 November, BDX increased its quarterly dividend to 60¢ per share. The dividend is payable on 31 December to shareholders of record on 10 December.

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

Full Disclosure: Long INTC

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