Dividend Increases for Wednesday December 7, 2011
Today’s dividend update includes four companies who increased their dividend. Most notable is the BDC (Business Development Corp.) that raised it’s dividend for the 3rd time in 3 months with today’s increase of over 11%!
As we’ve discussed before BDC’s are on the riskier side of the dividend income spectrum, however with an improving economy, they may be the perfect place to deploy some of your higher “risk” capital.
The Steady Eddy
When we highlight the companies that have increased their dividends, most times they are not your household names – which isn’t always such a bad thing because many times these are companies who have found a niche and are *very* profitable in that niche.
When building the DDI portfolio I like to balance it out with smaller companies as well as larger more established blue chip names. Brystol Myers Squibb (ticker: BMY) is one of those names and today they rewarded their shareholders with a nice holiday bonus by increasing the dividend payout from $1.32/share to $1.36/share on an annual basis, which brings their yield to 4.05% based on today’s prices.
The Firecracker
As mentioned at the open, today we saw Solar Senior Corp (ticker: SUNS) a BDC, raise their monthly dividend 11.1% to $1.20/share annually.
This BDC has been raising their dividend fairly consistently since their initial dividend payment last June.
The current yield on this company is 7.44% – however, the shares have pulled back sharply from the $19 range last spring and are currently trading in the $15-16/range which is adding to the current yield. Because of the monthly payout and the potential for continued increases in the dividend, I will be doing more research as I consider adding SUNS to the DDI portfolio.
Wednesday’s other dividend increases came from Baytex Energy (ticker: BTE) which pays monthly and increased it’s dividend to $2.64/share annually. Hillenbrand (ticker: HI) also offered a small token dividend increase of $.01/share. Hillenbrand now pays $.77/share annually for a yield of just over 3.5%.
For more detailed information about today’s dividend increases please refer to the chart below.
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. 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 – do not 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 / advisor before making any investments.
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Click on the chart above to download the google docs spreadsheet.