Well another one of my worker bees announced a solid dividend increase today. Southern Company announced that it is increasing its quarterly dividend from $.525 to .$5425 a share. This is a 3.33% increase which is impressive coming from a utility company.
The record date is May 18th and the pay date is June 6th.
Since I currently own 55.65 shares my yearly dividends will increase by $9.46.
I just recently initiated a position in SO after being quite skeptical about its valuation and relatively low dividend yield. It hit a high of $53 a couple of months ago and fell about $10 since that high. I finally bit the bullet and now have a relatively small position.
This is by no means a glamourous company, but it is hard to argue with the starting yield and a rather impressive 3.33% dividend increase. To put it in perspective, this past Friday the 800 pound gorilla we know as Procter and Gamble provided a very uninspiring 3% dividend increase.
Companies still in the batter's box for this month are IBM, CVX, XOM, JNJ, and APU. Hopefully they are carrying big bats.
DEFY MEDIOCRITY
I am happy with any dividend raise and especially the expected small ones from my utility holdings of SO, ED and D. As you mentioned for a utility this is kind of expected unlike the increase from PG. While a small portion of my portfolio I plan to keep my 3 utils for a while longer even though 2014 has been a banner year for the sector.
ReplyDeleteDivHut,
DeleteI plan on keeping very little invested in pure utilities as well. I do have some quasi-utility holdings in T and VZ. They are good for income and provide shock absorbers for the overall portfolio.
Thanks for stopping by!
MDP