In compiling the Dividend Champions list I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, I can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again.
New Format
This is the second article in the new twice-monthly format, which extends the forward look to a period of about eight weeks. The first appeared on April 13th and can be found here. Seven of the companies mentioned in that article have announced dividend increases, including the 55th consecutive annual increase by Procter & Gamble (PG) and the 10th straight by Southern Company (SO), which graduated to Contender status. As expected, the new twice-monthly format leads to some carry-over in the listings, but should help to avoid having companies failing to be mentioned simply because they fall in between monthly articles. Based on last year's announcements, I'm expecting the following companies to announce dividend increases between now and the anniversary of their previous increase:
Dividend Champions (25 or more years):
No. | 3/31 | Qtrly | LY% | LY | |||
Company | Symbol | Yrs | Price | Yield | Rate | Inc. | Ex-Div |
W.W. Grainger Inc. | 39 | 137.68 | 1.57 | 0.5400 | 17.39 | 5/6/10 | |
ExxonMobil Corp. | 28 | 84.13 | 2.09 | 0.4400 | 4.76 | 5/11/10 | |
Mine Safety Appliances | 39 | 36.67 | 2.73 | 0.2500 | 4.17 | 5/20/10 | |
NACCO Industries | 25 | 110.67 | 1.89 | 0.5225 | 0.97 | 5/27/10 | |
Weyco Group Inc. | 29 | 24.46 | 2.62 | 0.1600 | 6.67 | 5/27/10 | |
Johnson & Johnson | 48 | 59.25 | 3.65 | 0.5400 | 10.20 | 5/28/10 | |
PepsiCo Inc. | 38 | 64.41 | 2.98 | 0.4800 | 6.67 | 6/2/10 |
Dividend Contenders (10-24 years):
No. | 3/31 | Qtrly | LY% | LY | |||
Company | Symbol | Yrs | Price | Yield | Rate | Inc. | Ex-Div |
Tompkins Financial | 24 | 41.55 | 3.27 | 0.3400 | 10.00 | 5/5/10 | |
Int'l Business Machines | 15 | 163.07 | 1.59 | 0.6500 | 18.18 | 5/6/10 | |
Franklin Electric Co. | 18 | 46.20 | 1.13 | 0.1300 | 4.00 | 5/11/10 | |
Chevron Corp. | 23 | 107.49 | 2.68 | 0.7200 | 5.88 | 5/17/10 | |
Southside Bancshares | 16 | 21.40 | 3.18 | 0.1700 | 5.00 | 5/25/10 | |
Factset Research Sys. | 12 | 104.73 | 0.88 | 0.2300 | 15.00 | 5/26/10 | |
Expeditors International | 16 | 50.15 | 0.80 | 0.2000 | 5.26 | 5/27/10 | |
Cullen/Frost Bankers | 17 | 59.02 | 3.05 | 0.4500 | 4.65 | 5/28/10 | |
Imperial Oil Ltd. | 18 | 51.07 | 0.85 | 0.1090 | 14.74 | 6/1/10 | |
Community Bank System | 17 | 24.27 | 3.96 | 0.2400 | 9.09 | 6/11/10 | |
First Financial Corp. | 22 | 33.24 | 2.77 | 0.4600 | 2.22 | 6/11/10 | |
UGI Corp. | 23 | 32.90 | 3.04 | 0.2500 | 25.00 | 6/11/10 | |
Universal Health Realty | 22 | 40.53 | 5.97 | 0.6050 | 0.83 | 6/14/10 | |
Republic Bancorp KY | 12 | 19.48 | 2.94 | 0.1430 | 8.33 | 6/16/10 | |
SEI Investments Co. | 18 | 23.88 | 0.84 | 0.1000 | 11.11 | 6/17/10 |
Dividend Challengers (5-9 years):
No. | 3/31 | Qtrly | LY% | LY | |||
Company | Symbol | Yrs | Price | Yield | Rate | Inc. | Ex-Div |
Empresa Nacional/Elec | 7 | 55.62 | 2.77 | 0.7690 | 45.64 | 4/29/10* | |
Costco Wholesale | 7 | 73.32 | 1.12 | 0.2050 | 13.89 | 5/5/10 | |
AmeriGas Partners LP | 6 | 48.06 | 5.87 | 0.7050 | 5.22 | 5/6/10 | |
United Community Bp | 5 | 7.25 | 6.07 | 0.1100 | 10.00 | 5/10/10 | |
BOK Financial Corp. | 6 | 51.68 | 1.93 | 0.2500 | 4.17 | 5/12/10 | |
Assurant Inc. | 7 | 38.51 | 1.66 | 0.1600 | 6.67 | 5/20/10 | |
Analog Devices Inc. | 8 | 39.38 | 2.23 | 0.2200 | 10.00 | 5/26/10 | |
Arch Coal Inc. | 7 | 36.04 | 1.11 | 0.1000 | 11.11 | 5/27/10 | |
Northrop Grumman | 7 | 62.71 | 3.00 | 0.4700 | 9.30 | 5/27/10 | |
Knight Transportation | 7 | 19.25 | 1.25 | 0.0600 | 20.00 | 6/2/10 | |
Suncor Energy Inc. | 5 | 44.84 | 0.88 | 0.0990 | 6.45 | 6/2/10 | |
Daktronics Inc. | 6 | 10.75 | 0.93 | 0.1000 | 5.26 | 6/10/10 | |
W.R. Berkley Corp. | 9 | 32.21 | 0.87 | 0.0700 | 16.67 | 6/10/10 | |
Chesapeake Utilities | 7 | 41.62 | 3.17 | 0.3300 | 4.76 | 6/11/10 | |
Pharmaceutical ProdDev | 6 | 27.70 | 2.17 | 0.1500 | 5.71 | 6/11/10 | |
FedEx Corp. | 9 | 93.55 | 0.51 | 0.1200 | 9.09 | 6/15/10 | |
Flowers Foods | 9 | 27.23 | 2.94 | 0.2000 | 14.29 | 6/16/10 | |
Greif Inc. A | 7 | 65.41 | 2.57 | 0.4200 | 10.53 | 6/16/10 | |
Communications Sys. | 8 | 15.39 | 3.90 | 0.1500 | 7.14 | 6/17/10 | |
Tiffany & Company | 8 | 61.44 | 1.63 | 0.2500 | 25.00 | 6/17/10 |
*EOC is expected to have an Ex-Dividend Date in May this year.
There may be other companies that announce increases in the coming weeks, such as those that increase the payout on a quarterly or irregular basis. (Companies generally make dividend declarations anywhere from two days to six weeks before the Ex-Dividend Date.) Not all of these companies will meet the strict standards of every investor, but they may be appropriate for portfolio diversification. Potential investors should do more research before committing funds.
Coming Up
Articles on the following topics are expected in the next month or so:
Dividend Champions Update: April 29. The spreadsheet and PDF will be updated after the market close and posted in their usual location (see first line of this article).
Dividend Champions: Smackdown XIII: May 1
Companies Expected to Increase Dividends: May 10
Overdue Dividend Increases: May 13. Date is approximate as I will coordinate this article with David Van Knapp's “Dividends in Danger?” series.
Companies Expected to Increase Dividends: May 25.
I may also submit articles during the month depending on reader interest. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions below.
