Expected Dividend Increases in February 2018

What a month it has been for dividend increases!  Each month, I highlight the companies that are expected to announce a dividend increase in the coming month.  For the first time, I am speechless.   In January, I highlighted three companies that were expected to increase their dividend in the coming month.  But man was I blown out of the water with all of the dividend increases that were announced.  February will have some tough shoes to follow!  Enough talk, let’s dive right in and summarize the companies that increased their dividend in January and which companies are expected to announce a dividend increase in February.

Actual Dividend Increases in January

I mentioned this was an exciting month of dividend increases.  I am going to do my best to summarize the increases from the past month; however, if I miss one, please let me know and tell me about the increase in the comments section of the article!

  • Consolidated Edison (ED) –  One of our favorite foundation dividend stocks.  Luckily for me, I am a shareholder of the electric utility while Lanny jealously watches from the sidelines.  Well, this month, ED announced a 3.62% increase in their quarterly dividend.  The increase may not seem like a lot, but it was higher than their five-year average dividend growth rate entering January.
  • Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB) –  The consumer staple, munch like ED, announced a 3% increase in their quarterly dividend in January.  But unlike ED, this was beloe their five-year average growth rate entering this month.  I’m a little surprised this amount wasn’t larger given some of the other dividend increases announced this month.
  • Air Products and Chemicals, Inc (APD) –  Here we go, now this is what we are talking about.  APD announced a 15.8% increase in their quarterly dividend this month.   This is great for a company that has a yield in the low 2% range.   This was just the start of a trend of companies that announced a double-digit dividend increase here in January.
  • Bonus Company #1:  Intel Corporation (INTC)  – After a long twelve-hour day at work, Lanny and I decided to head home tired and exhausted.  Then, I received this phone call from him and he could barely hold back his excitement.  He said (yes this is the PG-13 version) “Holy cow Bert, you’ll never believe this.  Intel just announced a 10% increase in their quarterly dividend.”  This is great news for all of their shareholders.  The best part was, this was just one of many similar conversations that occurred in January.
  • Bonus Company #2: Norfolk-Southern Corp (NSC) – If I thought Lanny was excited to tell me about a 10% increase in INTC’s quarterly dividend, you should have heard the excitement in his voice when he called to tell me that Norfolk-Southern announced a 18% increase in their quarterly dividend.  It has been several years since NSC increased their quarterly dividend.  Lanny and I had suspected they were going to announce a dividend increase at some point in 2017 after the stock’s strong performance in January.  But still, the size of the increase and the timing of the announcement caught both of us off guard!  Man was this increase exciting.
  • Bonus Company #3: 3M Corp (MMM) – MMM typically announces their dividend increase in February. So I was a little surprised to read about their dividend increase a few weeks early in January.  Still though, I came close to doing a few back flips when I realized MMM announced a 15.7% increase in their quarterly dividend.  This has been one of my favorite stocks to own and the company continues their streak of double-digit percent increases in their dividend.
  • Bonus Company #4: Realty Income (O) – Man I have written a lot about Realty Income in January, which makes sense given the fact that I purchased the company twice in January!  Realty Income provided me with my first dividend increase in 2018 when the company announced a 3% increase in their monthly dividend.  Man do I love owning this company and I am very excited to now own over 70 shares after both purchases.  However, I am expecting this to be the first of several small dividend increases by this REIT!
  • Bonus Company #5: Citizens and Northern Corp (CZNC) – Boom! Lanny and I have pretty substantial positions in this community bank stock.  Once again, we were both surprised and excited to receive a dividend increase from CZNC during the month.  CZNC last increased their dividend in January 2014, so this increase was over four years in the making!  Interestingly, this seemed to be a trend in the banking industry as there were a ton of other community banks that increased their dividend  this month.
  • Bonus Company #6: Diageo Corp (DEO) – Last, but not least, Diageo.  The beverages giant announced a 5% increase in their interim dividend.  And you guessed it, Lanny and I both own shares of this company as well!

Expected Dividend Increases in February 2018

Phew – are you all as exhausted from the dividend increases as we are?  OF COURSE NOT!  This was an exciting month to be a dividend growth investor and hopefully this is going to set the table for a record-setting 2018.  Unfortunately, this list will be one stock shorter than usual since MMM decided to increase their dividend in January.  Now, let’s see which companies are expected to announce a dividend increase here in February!  Oh yeah, by the way, this list may be just as long as January’s.

  • Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM) – ADM has made several appearances on my dividend stock watch lists towards the end of 2017.  This Dividend Aristocrat has announced a $.02/share increase in their quarterly dividend for the last two years.  I wonder if ADM will continue this trend or will shock us with a larger dividend increase.
  • Coca-Cola Co. (KO) –  The classic, iconic beverage company is set to increase their dividend this coming month.   Just like ADM, the company has increased their quarterly dividend by $.02/share over the last two years and has essential stuck to that pattern for the last five years.   The company’s payout ratio is higher than the 60% threshold we use in our stock screener and barring strong earnings growth, I’ll be very interested to see the percent increase that KO announces.
  • Genuine Parts Company (GPC) – Man oh man is this list getting pretty long.  GPC is yet another Dividend Aristocrat that is set to increase their dividend in the coming month.  GPC’s five-year average dividend growth rate is 6.42% and the company has been on a tear to start 2018.  Much like MMM, INTC, and NSC, I am predicting that GPC has a double-digit increase in their quarterly dividend coming.  Let’s see if my gut feeling is right.
  • T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) – Lanny and I established large positions in the debt-free, Dividend Aristocrat several years ago and the company has performed extremely well since our purchase.  TROW announced a 5.5% increase in their quarterly dividend last year and similar to GPC, I have a hunch the company will announce a much larger dividend increase this year.  With an increase, this will mark the 32nd consecutive year that TROW has increased their quarterly dividend!
  • Walmart (WMT) – The grand finale…..Walmart.  Each February, WMT announces their four quarterly dividend payments for the coming year.  Since 2014, the company has increased their quarterly dividend by only $.01/share.  But this has been an exciting year for WMT in their quest to battle Amazon.

Wow.  February looks like it is going to be another exciting month for dividend investors.  All, I hope you are as excited and motivated to invest in dividend stocks after reading about these dividend increases.  I know that the two of us are going to keep on side-hustling and scraping EVERY DOLLAR we can to continue investing and pushing our forward dividend income forward!  Let’s make 2018 special!

What dividend increases did you receive this month?  Which companies are you expecting to announce an increase in February?  Do you own any of the companies on this list?  Please, let me know if I missed a company here!

-Bert

27 thoughts on “Expected Dividend Increases in February 2018

  1. Thanks for the summary guys. I think we are seeing some effects of the Corporate tax cut trickle through in “bonus” increases and higher than average normal increases. Which is great. D announced a 8+% increase last Friday. This was on top of a much smaller increase in Q4 2017. The share price has been pushed down for a variety of reasons. You might consider D for purchase some time. Roughly 4.5% yield and management committing to 8-10% growth over the next few years. Payout ratio is a little high, but being a regulated utility it is not concerning to me.

    Hopefully you can put down the 10 key adding machines (very few computers when I started in public accounting), relax and enjoy the Super Bowl on Sunday. Tom

    • Tom,

      Of course, glad to put the summary together…its fun haha I would agree with your assessment about the bonus increases. D is a very interesting company and one that Lanny and I have talked about for a month or so now. Would love to initiate a position, especially with the recently announced acquisition. I’m not as considered with the high payout ratio since it is a utility company. I’ll definitely be watching the Super Bowl with my friends. I will need a mental break for sure. MY gut tells me New England will win by double digits, but I always love a great underdog story. A back-up QB doing to Tom Brady what he once did to the league….that would be something. What do you think?

      Bert

    • Gremlin,

      I can’t blame you for not being long on all of them. This post doesn’t focus on valuation as much as it does just on dividend increases. But I love the names on your long list. Some of my favorites.

      Bert

  2. Glad to see MMM on the list. Because I manually input the dividends I get in my portfolio, I routinely double-check the portfolio for accuracy. It was then I noticed that MMM had increased their dividends. I’m also glad to see O and KO as I own all those companies. Thanks for putting this together as always.

    • DP,

      How excited were you when you updated your dividends and saw the MMM results? I couldn’t be happier. The company just continues to deliver for us. Looks like you had a very solid month of dividend increases 🙂
      Bert

    • MG,

      How’s it going? You know what, I can’t believe I missed the Chevron payment as well! Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention and I’m excited to update my spreadsheet and see the impact it has on our income. Can’t believe I missed that one.

      Bert

  3. Dividend increases are always great. I had about $140.00 dollars last year so I’m hoping to push 160.00 this year. Had CVX announce this week. Only own 2 shares so it’s just minuscule but it helps in the end

    • Doug,

      You’ll easily get to $160 with the way this year is starting off. Congrats on the CVX increase, and I am a fellow shareholder. 2 shares may not seem like a lot, but every bit makes a difference. Plus, if each holding increases their dividend, you’ll be swimming in the extra income!

      Bert

    • Mr. Robot,

      You comment took me back to my college days the way the tickers are laid out. I went to Ohio State and there is one thing that our fans love to do. It is spell out O-H-I-O. I had to do a double take when I read your response haha Congrats on the great dividend increases as well. Let’s hope that ADM follows the other companies and just knocks our socks off.

      Bert

  4. HI DVD,

    Yes. great names will coming up with increases.
    I own a few of them like KO /ADM /WMT.

    I am also holding AFLAC, and they suprised me yesterday with 15 % …. ( yes) increase
    DGI at work I love it..

    Willem

    • Willem,

      Looks like you are going to have a fun February in terms of tracking your dividend increases. AFL’s dividend increase was amazing and I just saw it a few hours ago. This is going to be a great year, man oh man!

      Bert

  5. I added to my O position twice last month also! Can’t pass up the over 5% yield and value play on this aristocrat. Raises I’m excited for, Wal-mart, Can they finally boost the dividend over what they have been paying in the past? I’m hoping for a 5%. ADM, I have a small position in them and TROW, Let’s hope this one knocks it out of the park with a double digit increase. I can’t wait! Thanks for keeping us up to date on increases. I plan to open up a position in 3M this month while it had a small decline.

    • Diligent,

      Our monthly dividends from O are going to be great! I agree about the value play and I may continue to add more if the price continues to fall. I would love to get my overall position to around $5k. I hope you enjoy your MMM position as much as I have. It has been one of my favorite companies to own.

      Bert

  6. I had APD and O from your January list. Man, was that APD raise nice…. over 15%. I got increases from 5 others, too. including 15+% raises from Blackrock (BLK), Fastenal (FAST), and a bonus one from Aflac (AFL). I missed on my expectation that HanesBrands would announce something (maybe it will be in February?).
    Speaking of February, it’s already off to a great start… an 11+% raise from Quest Diagnostics (DGX), and a bonus raise of 7.7% from Visa (V). I’m also looking forward to a TROW announcement as you mentioned, in addition to something from Gilead Sciences (GILD). This is also the normal month for a SCANA (SCG) raise, but given their troubles, and possible merger with Dominion Energy (D), I won’t be surprised if nothing happens.
    Awesome roundup, Diplomats. Definitely exciting for dividend investors!

    • ED,

      Thank you very much! That’s a bummer that HBI didn’t announce their increase. I’m holding out hope they will surprise you here in February as well and I’ll keep my fingers crossed. And wow, you have received a lot of great dividend increases in January in February. Where do I even begin here haha It is a fun time to be a dividend investor and I expect many more great dividend increases like those throughout the first quarter. Keep us updated if more trickle in!

      Bert

  7. Hi Bert,
    I had one increase this month from O. It’s the second month in a row when they increase their dividend and I’m happy for that!
    I wish I had some of the companies that had bigger dividend increases, though. It just reminds me that I need to keep building my portfolio with those stellar companies 🙂
    -BI

    • BI,

      Congrats on your increase from O. I love this company. Don’t worry, stay tuned, I have a hunch some of your other positions are going to announce large increases at some point in 2018. That seems to be the trend in 2018.

      Bert

  8. I own MMM and O so I am very happy with that. Unfortunately from a Euro-pean point of view these increases are all been countered by the strong euro. Oh well, makes it easier to buy in Dollar 🙂

    Cheers, Martin

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *