Recent Dividend Increases

Dividend investors would be wise to focus not just on a stock's current yield, but also on the long-term growth potential of its dividends. That's because strong businesses that consistently raise their dividend payouts reward shareholders with a steadily rising income stream that essentially equates to a raise every year. Below are some stocks which have increased their dividends recently.


American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG) - Announced that its Board of Directors has approved an increase in the Company's annual dividend from $0.78 to $0.88 per share of common stock. The increased dividend, when declared, will be paid on a quarterly basis of $0.22 per share of common stock beginning in October 2013. The new dividend rate represents a 12.8% increase over the annual rate paid thus far in 2013. The Company has increased its dividend in each of the last eight years.

Gap Inc. (GPS) - Announced that its Board of Directors intends to increase the company’s annual dividend per share from $0.60 to $0.80 beginning in the third quarter of 2013. This represents a 60 percent increase over the fiscal 2012 dividend per share of $0.50. The announcement underscores the company’s commitment to distributing excess cash to shareholders.

Altria Group, Inc. - (MO) - Announced that its Board of Directors voted to increase Altria's regular quarterly dividend by 9.1% to $0.48 per common share versus the previous rate of $0.44 per common share. The quarterly dividend is payable on October 10, 2013 to shareholders of record as of September 16, 2013. The ex-dividend date is September 12, 2013.

Main Street Capital Corp - (MAIN) - Private equity firm Main Street Capital announced today its fourth-quarter monthly dividend schedule of $0.16 per share, a 3% increase in the monthly payout to investors from the $0.155 per share paid last quarter. Main Street Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in equity, equity related, and debt investments in small and lower middle market companies.

Medtronic - (MDT) - The board of directors of Medtronic, Inc. approved a cash dividend of $0.28 per share of the company`s common stock. The quarterly dividend represents a 7.7 percent increase over the prior year. The dividend is payable on October 25, 2013, to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 4, 2013.



Full Disclosure: I have a position in Altria Group Inc (MO). You can see a list of all my dividend growth positions here.

Recent Buy - Chevron (CVX)

Today I opened a position in Chevron. I purchased 10 shares at $121.47 giving my portfolio it's 20th position. Chevron has been under some selling pressure as it approached their 2nd quarter earnings and continued to drop after a disappointing 2nd quarter due mostly from lower realized international liquids pricing. Since then the stock has dropped about $5 which doesn't exactly make it undervalued but I think it's fairly valued at this point and in this market that's not bad. Chevron has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years, making it a dividend champion, i.e. more than 24 years of consecutive increases. It's strong companies that have a serious commitment to their dividend that I strive to hold in my portfolio and I think Chevron exemplifies that.

Chevron is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. From exploration to production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas as well as refining , marketing and distribution of transportation fuels and lubricants. Chevron generates power, produces geothermal energy, provides renewable energy, manufactures and sells petrochemical products and energy efficiency solutions.

CVX Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: CVX
• PE Ratio: 9.93
• Yield: 3.3%
• Dividend Growth 10yr:  9.6%
• Payout Ratio: 30%
• Market cap: $237 B
• Website: http://www.chevron.com

Captain's Picks

Captain's Picks is a collection of various articles that have caught my eye recently. I think you may find them interesting. Here's this weeks crop .... 

Achieving a 10% yield on cost -  How to determine what the YOC of your investment will be after 10 years. - My Financial Independence Journey

Where is the economy going? - Marc Lichtenfeld and Oxford Club Chief Investment Strategist Alexander Green discuss the latest economic data, his Gone Fishin’ Portfolio and specific sectors in the market that he likes right now. - Get Rich With Dividends

Four reasons to stay away from a dividend stock - Dividend investing is not without it's risks, here's four tell tale signs to avoid a dividend stock. - Julian Close

ADP Dividend Fact Sheet -  This week we have a nice dividend breakdown of the dividend champion Automatic Data Processing (ADP) complete with the usual assortment of informative charts and stats. - Dividend Engineering

Retire at 30? Can this be done ? - Is it possible that one can retire at such an early age ? Here's some tips and examples that shows it can be possible in some cases. - Get Financially Integrated

10 Cheap High Yield Dividend Aristocrats - 10 of the cheapest high yielding stocks from the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index are revealed after some screening criteria.- GuruFocus


July Dividend Income Updates

• Spice Mind
• Compounding Income
• Exponential Dividends
• Passive Income Pursuit
• All About Interest
• Dividend Growth Machine
• DivGro
• Dividend Growth Investing And Retiremen
• Dividend Tactics
• Dividend Mantra

July Dividend Update

My dividend income for July comes to $135.27 which is considerably less than the $171.61 that I made last quarter in April. This was simply due to some of my dividends paying off a day or two earlier in June (WMT and UHT) rather than July. Some times this happens when the pay dates are so close to the beginning of the month. Regardless, this is a huge improvement over last years total of $68.93 for the month of July.

Dividend Increases

Reality Income (O) - From 0.181 to 0.182 per month

July Purchases

General Mills (GIS) - 22 Shares @ $49.12
McDonalds (MCD) - 11 Shares @ $98.00

I'm looking forward to August which could be my best month ever, we'll have to wait and see though. My purchases in August may be put on hold though as I go through some medical issues and need the capital to pay some hospital bills. Wow that stuff is expensive.

COMPANY	DESCRIPTION	SYMBOL	AMOUNT
SYSCO	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	SYY	18.48
HATTERAS FINANCIAL CORP	ORDINARY DIVIDEND	HTS	38.5
REALITY INCOME	ORDINARY DIVIDEND	O	18.15
PIEDMONT NATURAL GAS	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	PNY	21.08
GLAXOSMITHKLINE	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	GSK	12.66
ALTRIA	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	MO	26.4