20 Dividend Increases: February 26-March 2, 2018 (Part 2: Remaining Sectors)

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch is one way to identify candidates for further analysis. I look for announcements from stocks in the CCC list, but I use several screens to limit the number of stocks to monitor.

For example, I require a dividend yield of at least 1.5% for Dividend Challengers and a dividend yield of at least 1.0% for Dividend Contenders and Dividend Champions.

In the past week, 20 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends, including one of the stocks I hold in my portfolio. Part 1 presented dividend increases of stocks in the Consumer Discretionary and Financials sectors. This is Part 2, which covers dividend increase announcements from the remaining sectors.

Four increases presented in Part 2 are double-digit increases.

The top increase is from Willis Towers Watson (WLTW), a global advisory, broking, and solutions company serving large companies as well as mid-market and small businesses worldwide. WLTW announced an increase of 13.2% and now yields 1.52% at $154.92 per share.

The runner-up is Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), a publicly owned real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership and operation of lifestyle oriented properties in the United States. ELS announced an increase of 12.8% and the stock now yields 2.60% at $83.60 per share.

To see details about these and dividend increases in sectors other than the Consumer Discretionary and Financials sectors, please read this article at Seeking Alpha. As a bonus, I'm including a summary of ex-dividend dates for the next two weeks. Scan the list of stocks to see if there's a stock you want to pick up before the ex-dividend date so you can grab the next dividend.

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