3 Dividend Increases: April 2-6, 2018

Summary

• Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.
• I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks to identify candidates for further analysis.
• Recently, three companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends.
• As a bonus, I'm including a table of ex-dividend dates for the next two weeks.

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 can only increase their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently.

I limit the monitoring to stocks in the CCC list and I use several screens to limit the number of stocks further:

• Market cap ≥ $500 million
• No stocks that are being acquired
• No Over-The-Counter or Pink Sheet Stocks
• Dividend Yield ≥ 1.5% for Challengers
• Dividend Yield ≥ 1.0% for Contenders and Champions

This past week, three companies on my watchlist announced dividend increases. The following table presents a summary.

The table is sorted by the percentage increase, %Incr. Dividends are annualized and in US$, unless otherwise indicated. Yield is the new dividend yield for the market close Price on the date listed. Yrs are years of consecutive dividend increases, while 5-yr DGR is the compound annual growth rate of the dividend over a 5-year period. 1-yr %Incr is the percentage increase from the year-ago dividend. (Some companies increase their dividends more than once a year, so this puts the most recent dividend increase in context).

Summary of Dividend Increases: April 2-6, 2018

Previous Post: 6 Dividend Increases: March 26-30, 2018

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TJX (TJX)

Founded in 1956 and based in Framingham, Massachusetts, TJX operates as an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States and internationally. The company sells family apparel, home fashions, seasonal items, jewelry, and other merchandise. TJX operates stores under various names, including T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Sierra Trading.

Recently, the board of directors of TJX declared a quarterly dividend of 39¢ per share. The new dividend represents an increase of 24.80%. The dividend is payable on June 7 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 17.

Watsco (WSO)

WSO distributes air conditioning, heating, and refrigeration equipment in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The company offers residential ducted and ductless air conditioners; gas, electric, and oil furnaces; commercial air conditioning and heating equipment systems; and other specialized equipment. WSO was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Recently, WSO increased its quarterly dividend from $1.25 per share to $1.45 per share, an increase of 16.00%. The dividend is payable on April 30 to shareholders of record on April 16.

Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK)

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, OZRK provides retail and commercial banking services to businesses, individuals, and non-profit and governmental entities in Arkansas, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Alabama, New York and California. OZRK’s products include deposits and loans, mortgage lending, and trust and wealth management services.

On Monday, April 2, the company increased its quarterly dividend by 2.63% to 19.5¢ per share. The dividend is payable on April 20 to shareholders of record on April 13.

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

Below, I'm including charts from F.A.S.T. Graphs for three of this week's dividend raisers, TJX, WSO, and OZRK.

In these charts, the black line represents the share price, and the blue line represents the calculated P/E multiple at which the market has tended to value the stock over time. The orange line is the primary valuation reference line. It is based on one of three valuation formulas depending on the earnings growth rate achieved over the time frame in question. (The Adjusted Earnings Growth Rate represents the slope of the orange line in the chart.)

TJX's price line (black) is above the primary valuation line (orange) and above the stock's normal P/E ratio (blue). The stock is trading at a premium to fair value. An investment in TJX in January 2008 would have returned 19.5% on an annualized basis (with dividends included).

WSO's price line is above the stock's normal P/E ratio and above the primary valuation line. The stock is trading at a premium to fair value. An investment in WSO in January 2008 would have returned 18.5% on an annualized basis (with dividends included).

OZRK's price line is below the primary valuation line and below the stock's normal P/E ratio. The stock is trading at a discount to fair value. An investment in OZRK in January 2008 would have returned 22% on an annualized basis (with dividends included).

Upcoming Ex-Dividend Dates

As a bonus, here is a summary of available ex-dividend dates for the next two weeks. You must own a stock before its ex-dividend date to be eligible to receive the next dividend.

The table is sorted by Ticker, and as before, Next Div is annualized. Please note that Next Div links to the latest dividend declaration announcement.

Summary of Upcoming Ex-Dividend Dates: April 2-15, 2018

Company	Ticker	Yield	Recent Price	Yrs	5-Yr DGR	Next Div.	Ex-Div Date	Pay- able Date
AbbVie	ABBV	4.28%	$89.78	6	N/A	$3.84	04/12	05/15
ABM Industries	ABM	2.15%	$32.63	51	3.20%	$0.70	04/04	05/07
Abbott Laboratories	ABT	1.95%	$57.57	5	1.90%	$1.12	04/12	05/15
Accenture plc	ACN	1.80%	$147.38	13	12.40%	$2.66	04/11	05/15
American Financial Group	AFG	1.28%	$109.67	12	12.30%	$1.40	04/12	04/25
American Tower	AMT	2.11%	$142.16	9	24.00%	$3.00	04/10	04/27
American Express	AXP	1.52%	$91.91	6	10.90%	$1.40	04/05	05/10
Banner	BANR	2.55%	$54.91	6	89.60%	$1.40	04/09	04/19
Bristol-Myers Squibb	BMY	2.63%	$60.88	9	2.80%	$1.60	04/05	05/01
Brady	BRC	2.25%	$36.85	32	2.00%	$0.83	04/06	04/30
Brixmor Property Group	BRX	7.31%	$15.04	5	N/A	$1.10	04/04	04/16
Cracker Barrel Old Country	CBRL	2.94%	$163.16	15	27.40%	$4.80	04/12	05/07
City Holding	CHCO	2.65%	$69.48	7	4.70%	$1.84	04/12	04/30
Comcast	CMCSA	2.23%	$34.12	11	14.90%	$0.76	04/03	04/25
Cisco Systems	CSCO	3.24%	$40.73	8	25.70%	$1.32	04/04	04/25
Quest Diagnostics	DGX	2.05%	$97.35	7	21.50%	$2.00	04/03	04/18
Erie Indemnity	ERIE	2.94%	$114.41	28	7.20%	$3.36	04/05	04/20
Ethan Allen Interiors	ETH	3.34%	$22.75	7	16.30%	$0.76	04/10	04/25
Glacier Bancorp	GBCI	2.45%	$37.55	7	9.40%	$0.92	04/09	04/19
General Dynamics	GD	1.72%	$215.74	27	10.40%	$3.72	04/12	05/11
General Growth Properties	GGP	4.35%	$20.25	8	16.70%	$0.88	04/12	04/30
General Mills	GIS	4.31%	$45.47	14	8.80%	$1.96	04/09	05/01
P.H. Glatfelter	GLT	2.50%	$20.80	5	7.40%	$0.52	04/02	05/01
Gentex	GNTX	1.86%	$23.68	8	8.30%	$0.44	04/05	04/18
Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrstructure Capital	HASI	6.90%	$19.12	5	N/A	$1.32	04/03	04/12
Horizon Bancorp	HBNC	2.04%	$29.35	8	15.30%	$0.60	04/05	04/20
Hormel Foods	HRL	2.15%	$34.93	52	17.80%	$0.75	04/13	05/15
Healthcare Trust America	HTA	4.62%	$26.43	6	25.70%	$1.22	04/02	04/10
JPMorgan Chase &	JPM	2.05%	$109.09	7	12.10%	$2.24	04/05	04/30
Kimco Realty	KIM	7.82%	$14.33	8	7.30%	$1.12	04/02	04/16
Kite Realty Group Trust	KRG	8.34%	$15.22	5	4.70%	$1.27	04/05	04/13
Lincoln National	LNC	1.91%	$69.16	8	29.40%	$1.32	04/09	05/01
Life Storage	LSI	4.70%	$85.18	5	17.00%	$4.00	04/12	04/26
Mid-America Apartment Communities	MAA	4.01%	$91.98	8	5.70%	$3.69	04/12	04/30
McGrath Rentcorp	MGRC	2.52%	$53.90	26	2.10%	$1.36	04/13	04/30
McCormick &	MKC	2.00%	$104.20	32	8.70%	$2.08	04/06	04/23
OGE Energy	OGE	4.11%	$32.37	11	9.60%	$1.33	04/09	04/30
Patterson	PDCO	4.55%	$22.85	8	13.60%	$1.04	04/12	04/27
Children's Place (The)	PLCE	1.50%	$132.95	5	N/A	$2.00	04/13	04/27
Royal Gold	RGLD	1.16%	$86.18	17	9.90%	$1.00	04/05	04/20
Raytheon	RTN	1.61%	$215.91	14	10.10%	$3.47	04/10	05/10
Sysco	SYY	2.41%	$59.72	48	4.10%	$1.44	04/05	04/27
AT&T	T	5.61%	$35.63	34	2.20%	$2.00	04/09	05/01
Trinity Industries	TRN	1.64%	$31.65	7	19.10%	$0.52	04/12	04/30
UDR	UDR	3.61%	$35.71	8	7.00%	$1.29	04/06	04/30
Universal	UVV	4.43%	$49.65	47	2.00%	$2.20	04/06	05/07
Verizon Communications	VZ	4.97%	$47.48	13	2.90%	$2.36	04/09	05/01
WGL Holdings	WGL	2.43%	$84.94	43	4.90%	$2.06	04/09	05/01
Watsco	WSO	3.12%	$185.88	5	13.20%	$5.80	04/13	04/30

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I am/we are long ABBV, CMCSA, CSCO, DGX, GD, HASI, HRL, RTN, T, VZ. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Comments

[woodland]

Thank for the update FerdiS, just bought some shares of Comcast this week.

[FerdiS]

Hi, woodland -- I bought CMCSA too -- see my analysis article.

[buddyrow4]

👍

[FerdiS]

Cheers!

[AlieGee]

Raytheon is the one to look at in the defense industry.

[FerdiS]

I own RTN -- it's a great performing stock!

[KeithX]

Thanks FerdiS. I am currently long T and VZ off the list, and giving serious consideration to MKC. GLTU!

[FerdiS]

Thanks for commenting, KeithX -- all the best with your investments!