Increases
Our main goal behind sharing the monthly dividend increases, although it may be repetitive, is to remind you that you are being rewarded with an increasing cash flow when companies increase their dividend.
Even during times like today, the services or products of companies are still in high demand resulting in an increase in profits, allowing them to pay out a greater sum to their shareholders.
The share price of the company may be down however, it does not always reflect the profitability of a company. There are a variety of factors that affect the share prices including political climate, interest rates, investor confidence in the stock market and much more. Companies are still growing and can continue to increase their dividend due to their increase in cash flow.
It is important to remember that you can still profit from shares of a company when the price is down through the dividend income. I hope that this monthly update will help remind you of that.
Below is a list of companies in Canada and the United States that have increased their dividends in the month of September.
The companies we list are not the complete list of companies that have increased their dividends in Canada and the United States or the rest of the world however, they are companies we follow or own.
Canadian Companies
| Company | Previous ($) | New ($) | Change (%) |
| Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. | 0.830 | 0.950 | 14.46 |
| Saputo Inc. | 0.170 | 0.175 | 2.94 |
US Companies
| Company | Previous ($) | New ($) | Change (%) |
| General Mills Inc. | 0.490 | 0.510 | 4.08 |
| Honeywell International Inc. | 0.900 | 0.930 | 3.33 |
| Lockheed Martin Corp | 2.400 | 2.600 | 8.33 |
| Masco Corp | 0.135 | 0.140 | 3.70 |
| Microsoft Corp | 0.510 | 0.560 | 9.80 |
Decreases
In addition to the increases, I also wanted to touch on dividend decreases. There is absolutely no guarantee that a company will continue to pay its dividend. You may have seen some dividend decrease announcements in the news recently.
A company may choose to decrease, suspend or cut their dividend for a number of reasons including mismanagement, decrease in cash flow, preserving their capital etc.
In the past, if a company reduced or cut its dividend, especially if it was due to mismanagement, I typically would have sold that company.
During this pandemic, I think we have to be understanding and acknowledge that in some cases the company may be doing the right thing if they decrease or suspend their dividend.
Two examples come to mind including Disney and TJ Maxx. They both suspended their dividends to allow them to gain a better understanding of the impact this pandemic will have on their business and will reinstate it when they are comfortable. Suspending their dividend has allowed these companies to preserve their cash to ensure they make it out of this downturn in good standing.
The dollar value listed per share represents a quarterly dividend payment.
Information was obtained from the companies directly.
“How will you replace your current income in retirement?” – Jim Seyers