7 Dividend Increases: March 12-16, 2018

I like monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks because I consider such stocks to be candidates for further analysis. Companies that regularly raise their dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.

I monitor the CCC stocks but I use several screens to limit the number of stocks I monitor. For example, I require yields greater than 1% for Dividend Champions and greater than 1.5% for Dividend Contenders and Dividend Challengers.

After an exciting earnings season with lots of dividend increases, the number of dividend increases is down significantly from recent weeks. Last week, only seven companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends. I own two of these stocks.

The top increase is from Signet Jewelers (SIG), a retailer of diamond jewelry, watches, and other products in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and the Channel Islands. SIG announced an impressive increase of 19.35%. The stock now yields 3.83% at $38.68 per share.

Four more stocks announced double-digit percentage increases. The runner-up to SIG is Independent Bancorp (INDB) with an increase of 18.75%. The company is a bank holding company for Rockland Trust Company, a bank headquartered in Rockland, Massachusetts. INDB now yields 2.01% at $75.55.

To see details of all the dividend increases announced last week, please read this article at Seeking Alpha. I include three F.A.S.T. Graphs to illustrate the impressive earnings and dividend growth rates of some of these stocks.

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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