Nine Companies Buck the Trend, Raise Dividends

What if you don’t want to spend your retirement managing and worrying about your portfolio? Put it on Auto Pilot, specifically on a Dividend Investing Auto Pilot. Dividends from a quality, well-diversified portfolio are much more predictable than capital gains and best of all, they are passive. You don’t have to do anything, they just show up in your brokerage account each quarter. Inflation? Not to worry, the good companies routinely raise their dividends well in excess of the inflation rate.

Here are several companies rewarding their shareholders with higher cash distributions through increased dividends:

• HCP (HCP): Raises its quarterly dividend 1% to $0.46/share (8.00% yield)
• Aqua America (WTR): Bumps its quarterly dividend 8% to $0.135 (2.57% yield)
• Avon Products (AVP): Increases its dividend 5% (3.86% yield)
• Black Hills Corp. (BKH): Raises its quarterly dividend (5.97% yield)
• Infinity Property and Casualty (IPCC): Bumps its dividend to $0.12/share (1.22% yield)
• Ross Stores (ROST): Increases its quarterly dividend by 16% to $0.11/share (1.24% yield)
• J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT): Boosts its quarterly dividend 10% to $0.11 (1.64% yield)
• Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Bumps its quarterly dividend (1.95% yield)
• L-3 Communications (LLL): Raises its quarterly dividend by 17% to $0.35, (1.51% yield)

Retirement is not when you want to start learning how to dividend invest. There is a degree of art to dividend investing, so start young - time is always a great ally.

Full Disclosure: Long HCP.

Comments

[Sapphire:]

Thanks for a great article. I agree with your advice that investing for a dividend yield is the way to go.

Feb 09 08:50 AM

[notsosmart:]

almost all these yields are ridiculous. you can do a lot better with some good homework.

Feb 09 09:15 AM

[tk77mann:]

notsosmart,

What companies do you recommend for better (but still safe) dividend yields? Thx.

Feb 09 12:56 PM

[Lightway:]

High Yield % doesn't always mean everything. D4L is more into stocks that he knows will be reliable over time with their payments. What good is a stock with double digit yield if it's going to eventually slash the dividend because it can't pay it anymore.

There are lots of stocks with higher yields under pressure to cut their dividend.


On Feb 09 09:15 AM notsosmart wrote:

> almost all these yields are ridiculous. you can do a lot better with
> some good homework.

Feb 09 01:45 PM