Another month is in the books in 2018. It blows my mind that we are almost halfway through 2018. Each month, I do my best to compile a list of companies that are expected to announce a dividend increase in the coming month. While I can’t include every company in the article, I do my best to capture as many Dividend Aristocrats and other companies as possible. Here is the next installment in our monthly series. It is time to see which companies are expected to announce dividend increases in June!
actual dividend increases in May 2018
This monthly series is all about identifying the companies that are expected to announce a dividend increase in the upcoming month. But what fun would it be if we didn’t check on the actual results to see if the companies followed through at met their expectations? Before looking ahead, let’s see if the companies that were featured last month delivered!
- Company #1: Chubb Limited (CB) – CB lead’s off this listing for the month and the company announced a modest dividend increase. Last month, I mentioned that CB’s dividend growth rate has slowed over the last few years and this trend continued in the current year. CB announced another $.02/share increase in their quarterly dividend, only a 2.8% increase. It looks like the company has settled on a pattern of increasing their quarterly dividend by $.02/share.
- Company #2: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) – TBD – At the time this article was published, LOW had not announced their dividend increase. I will make sure to update this if the announcement is made subsequent to the release of the article!
- Company #3: Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (LEG) – LEG is a company that has caught my over during the month. This Dividend Aristocrat announced a 5.6% increase in their quarterly dividend, and there is a lot to like about the company’s current valuation as it passes all of the metrics in our Dividend Stock Screener.
- Bonus Company #1: Apple Corporation (AAPL) – We were expecting this dividend increase to occur in April; however, the company waited until the beginning of May this year to make the formally announced their dividend increase. But man did the company deliver, as management announced a 16% dividend increase and a $100 billion share buyback program. Holy cow, that is a lot of capital being returned to shareholders.
- Bonus Company #2: Unilever (UL) – We’ve written about how consumer staple stocks are trading at a discount in the current market. The industry has captured the eye of dividend investors everywhere! UL, one of the giants in the industry, snuck in a dividend increase during the month and announced a 6.5% increase in their quarterly payout. This is a very solid increase, if you ask me!
- Bonus Company #3: Cardinal Health (CAH) – Lanny and I were not expecting to receive this dividend increase during the month. However, we aren’t ever going to complain about receiving a 3.03% increase in a dividend payout.
Expected dividend increases in June 2018
Now that we have summarized the companies that increased their dividend last month, the true fun begins. After some research, the following are the companies that are expected to announce a dividend increase in June. For the first time ever, I actually own all the companies included in the listing. What a fun twist! Let’s dive income the numbers.
- Company #1: Kroger Co. (KR) – The two of us pounced on the opportunity to initiate a position in KR when the price fell sharply in 2017. Now, we are looking forward to receiving our first dividend increase as shareholders. KR has average double-digit dividend increases over the last five years; however, the 2017 increase brought this average down as the company only increased their dividend by 4% that year. Let’s see if this reverts back to the average in the current year.
- Company #2: Target Corp. (TGT) – I owe a pretty sizable position in Target and my wife has definitely been a contributor to the company’s top line revenue figure over the year since she loves shopping there! Needless to say, I’m also excited to see what TGT has up their sleeves for shareholders. Much like KR, their dividend growth rate in 2017 (3.3%) was below their five-year average dividend growth rate (11.76%). We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one!
- Company #3: Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) – After taking a year off and snapping their consecutive dividend increase streak, CAT increased their quarterly dividend by $.01/share in 2017. The company’s price has appreciated nicely in the last 12 months since their last increase, so I would expect the percentage to be larger in the current year.
- Company #4: Realty Income (O) – While it may feel like Realty Income increases their dividend every month, the company has a tradition of increasing their dividend every June. I love the monthly dividend paying company and increased my position significantly during the year. Thus, I am really looking forward to this announcement!
Do you own any of the companies on your listing? What was your favorite increase you received this month? Did you receive an increase from any companies that I did not include in this article? If so, what was the company and what was the dividend growth rate!
-Bert