5 Dividend Increases For Friday May 25th, 2012

5 Dividend Increases For Friday May 25th, 2012

While the markets continue to sputter again this week, and the DOW now below the 12,500 mark, investors continue to look to income equities to pad their wallets.  Four companies helped out income focused investors by delivering increases – Viacom the cable TV operator increased both their A and B shares from $0.25 to $0.275 with yields around 2%.

With the 5 dividend increases announced today, we logged a total of 18 dividend increases for the week. Starting with today’s round up, I’ll be offering a link to an online spreadsheet with all the numbers for today’s dividend changes.

Additionally, I’ll be adding each daily round-up to a 2012 year-to-date spreadsheet that will give you a big picture view of all the dividend increases for the year.

The Daily Round-Up

In addition to the two increases from Viacom (ticker: VIA / ticker: VIAB) here’s a brief recap of our three other dividend increases:

Bristow Group Inc (ticker: BRS) provides helicopter services to the offshore energy industry. Bristow increased their dividend 25% to $.20/quarter for a yield of 1.8%

Financial Institutions, Inc (ticker: FISI) operates as the holding company for Five Star Bank which provides consumer and commercial banking primarily in  Western New York state. FISI had a dividend increase of $.01 to $.14/quarter with a new yield of 3.4%

Portland General Electric Company (ticker: POR) is an electric utility company that engages in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, as well as the retail sale of electricity to residents in the state of Oregon. Portland GEC  raised their quarterly dividend by $.005 to $.27 which will yield investors 4.3%

Company	Ticker	Yield	New	Old	Frequency
Bristow Group	BRS	1.8%	.20	.15	Quarterly
Financial Institutions Inc.	FISI	3.4%	.14	.13	Quarterly
Portland General Electric	POR	4.3%	.27	.265	Quarterly
Viacom A	VIA	2.1%	.275	.25	Quarterly
Viacom B	VIAB	2.3%	.275	.25	Quarterly

Investment Considerations- Read Before Investing

As always when evaluating investment opportunities it’s important to keep in mind not only the fundamentals of the stock itself, but also how the holding entity (Limited Partnership,Royalty Trust, Master Limited Partnership, Business Development Company, Preferred Stock) may affect the way you report income on your annual tax return as well as the amount or percentage of tax  you will be required to pay.

Keep in mind that adding shares of any of these special entities to tax deferred / retirement accounts may also present additional issues.

Remember to review all of the fundamentals of any company BEFORE investing – you shouldn’t simply buy a stock based on the dividend payout. If you have further questions about any stock mentioned her you should first consult with your CPA or tax planner / adviser before making any investments.