Expected Dividend Increases In December 2018

Thanksgiving is over, the first major snow has hit our hometown, and look out, our Cleveland Browns have finally won back-to-back football games! Now that the calendar is set to turn and we enter the most exciting dividend month of the year, you know what that means? It is time for the next installment of one of our longest running blog post series. Each month, we do our best to highlight as many companies that are expected to announce a dividend increase that month. Since we love dividend increases and follow them so closely, we love trying to share the news with you! We can't include them all, but we try to hit the major ones. It is time, for the last time in 2018. Here is our listing of expected dividend increases in December!

Actual Dividend Increases in November 2018

Before looking ahead, I always like to review the actual results from the prior month. After all, what fun would it be if we didn't follow-up on the results? We predicted 7 companies would increase their dividend in November. A few of them could either not be announced since the companies announced a dividend increase earlier in the year ahead of schedule or announce either in the final week of November or early December. Let's see the results!

• Company #1: Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) - At the time this article was finalized, SBUX had not announced their dividend increase. However, we will keep you updated and edit the article if there is an announcement after the post is published!
• Company #2: Sysco Corporation (SYY) - SYY with a very solid 8.3% increase in their quarterly dividend! The $.03/share increase in their quarterly dividend matches the same cent amount as the prior year, so the percent increase decreased slightly as a result. But, this is larger than their 5-year average increase.
• Company #3: Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL) - Lanny was pretty excited about this 12% increase. In fact, he was so excited that he tweeted about the news immediately after he heard it. It was a nice text to wake up to in the morning, that's for sure. This Dividend Aristocrat continues to deliver strong dividend increases on an annual basis. One of these days, I am going to buy in when the valuation is right!

• Company #4: McCormick & Co. (MKC) - Post Thanksgiving, MKC cooked up something nice for their investors. The company increased their quarterly dividend $.05/share, or 9.6%. This is right in line with their recent 5-year average dividend growth rate of 8.87%. Gotta love the consistency displayed here.
• Company #5: Walt Disney Co. (DIS) - In the previous month's article, we noted that DIS has a history of increasing their dividend in either the final week of November or the first week of December. The million dollar question was… which month were they going to announce the increase in during this year? You all know how anxious Lanny and I get when we are sitting around, waiting for dividend increases that we are expecting to come. The mystery was solved when DIS announced a $.04/share increase in their semi-annual dividend at the end of November. This was a 4.7% increase, much lower than their increases from previous years.
• Company #6: Becton Dickinson & Co. (BDX) - I mentioned last month that the company's dividend yield is under 2% and their 5-year dividend growth rate is just under 8%. This recent dividend increase of $.02/share in their quarterly dividend, or 2.6%, was surprisingly low.
• Company #7: Nike (NKE) - Nike continued its march towards becoming an Aristocrat by announcing a 10% increase in their quarterly dividend or $.02/share. One thing to note as well is that the company announced a $15B share buyback program earlier in the year, to be completed over a 4-year stretch. NKE is looking to return some nice capital back to their shareholders!

Expected Dividend Increases in December 2018

With the past behind us, now it is time for the fun part! Hopefully by now, we are all awake from our post-Thanksgiving slumbers and are ready to look ahead and see which companies are expected to announce a dividend increase in the coming month. I know this isn't an all-inclusive list. So please let me know in the comment section if I missed a company that you own or are monitoring. I would love to aggregate as large of a listing as possible for everyone to potentially use when making an investment decision. Here are the companies that are expected to announce dividend increases in December.

• Company #1: AT&T (T) - Let's be honest. What dividend growth investor in this awesome online community isn't excited about this anticipated AT&T dividend increase. Sure, the company's annual $.01/share dividend increase doesn't jump off the page. However, the company has a great dividend yield at the moment and any increase in their dividend provides a nice benefit to the company's shareholders. I'll tell you what. We own over 200 shares combined of the telecom giant, so I am really looking forward to this increase.
• Company #2: Pfizer (PFE) - PFE recently announced they are increasing the price of some of their key drugs. So will a strong dividend increase follow as well? All jokes aside, PFE has a very solid 7.2% 5-year average dividend growth rate and announced a 6.25% dividend increase in 2017. I'm expecting this year's dividend increase to surpass the prior year and the company's recent average! Fingers crossed.
• Company #3: Boeing (BA) - Boeing has absolutely CRUSHED it with their dividend increases in recent years. Last year, their dividend increase was over 20%! That wasn't anything special, though, as the company has delivered insane dividend increases for the better part of this decade. With tax reform and tariffs, this should be a really interesting year and I'll be watching closely to see if the company continues with their strong dividend increases.
• Company #4: Abbott Laboratories (ABT) - AbbVie (ABBV) has already announced a strong dividend increase for the year. Will the other half of the former consolidated organization follow along? How will tax reform impact ABT's annual dividend? There are a lot of questions here, but I'm excited to see what happens!
• Company #5: ABM Industries (ABM) - ABM is a Dividend Aristocrat that not too many people know about. However, when you pay for parking at a parking garage, or an event, there is a good chance you are supporting this company! ABM is another low dividend yield, low dividend growth rate company. Never a great combination, so I will not be including them on my December dividend stock watch list. That could change, however, if management were to announce a strong dividend increase here.

Five excellent companies are expected to announce dividend increases in December. How many of them do you own? Are any of them on your watch list? Did you find any of the dividend increases announced in November shocking? I was a little shocked the DIS increase was less than 5%. Can't wait to read your responses. Happy Investing everyone!

Comments

[LK106218]

I believe the author meant that T has annually increased the dividend by $0.01 per share per quarter or $0.04 per share for the year. 2016 paid $1.92 per share. 2017 paid $1.96 per share. 2018 paid $2.00 per share.

[marketlearner]

Should we expect regular Div increase from T, or should T go for lower Div increase and focus on debt reduction?

[arthur_bishop1972]

Only own T & PFE from this list but am expecting solid raises from both, esp T, which needs to show us shareholders the money and do better than a paltry penny a quarter.

I am watching BA tho. If they don't 'WOW' investors again, it might hurt market sentiment. I'm not forecasting anything, just looking at the bigger picture and how BA's moves might sway sentiment.

AB

[Nodak Millennial]

I expect the same $.01 increase from T, hoping they'll prioritize paying down debt at this juncture. Every $.01 increase in the quarterly dividend is a ~$290M annual commitment, so all options must be weighed.

[arthur_bishop1972]

Thanks, Nodak Millennial.

[Bobbie B]

Most of the dividends are under 2%, is it really that good of news?

[Oldcarguy]

Just pick the good ones, like T.

[Ex-Bingo Addict]

Think of the dividend has making a cash withdraw from the ATM machine. Only take out what your going to use for a short period. Leave most of the cash in to keep working for you.

[Dividendhound]

it's better than say , bad of news.

[Insure57]

I have 21K shares of T and almost 13K shares of PFE. None of the others. T's divi is great but just need some price appreciation to go along with it now. Also holding BAC, JPM, CSCO, RDS.A, UNH, GOOGL, BABA, JNJ, & BP. Good divi's on all but GOOGL & BABA.

[Banker 2]

GO BROWNS!!!!
MAYBE WE CAN GET BACK TO THE 1963-64 SEASON AGAIN. GO, " O-H-I-O "THANKS FOR YOUR INSIGHT

[Mili21]

ABBV, for past couple of years, increased the dividends in double digits on the other hand ABT is increasing the divis by hardly 5% or so....
I got ABBV via ABT spinoff and I am quite happy over the past 10 years.
ABBV is boosting dividends where as ABT is stock price is appreciating fast, especially, this year it has gone up by 50%.
As we are just 30 days away from the YE, I am curiously waiting to see what kind of increase ABT offers, which is very unlikely. (Edited)
~V

[danllll]

Do you think SBUX will raise their div again, they just raised it in June?

[montrachet]

SBUX will not. It is always good to dream...

[buddyrow4]

long diz , hrl , recently added more t. sold syy bought zts several years back

[deal9]

Only one and it's the big T. GO T GO!!!

[JamesHPCP]

Acquired some of my PFE at $16 and change, so looking forward to an increase in my YOC.