Mergent/Indixs publishes as list known as the US Broad Dividend Achievers. This list is composed of "companies incorporated in the United States or its territories, (which) trade on the NYSE, NASDAQ or AMEX, and have increased their annual regular dividend payments for the last ten or more consecutive years." Also, each stock's average daily cash volume must exceed $500,000 to be considered. I recently analyzed this list, which consists of 309 companies, to determine the top 25 companies by dividend growth. Although Indixs also published a list last year called High Growth Rate Dividend Achievers, its composition will no doubt change, as some financials have cut or not raised their dividends in 2008. Using the US Broad Dividend Achievers as a starting point, I calculated the 25 top dividend growers. Dividend growth is reported below as the percentage change from the last quarter of 1999 to the most recent dividend paid, be it the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009.
- HOG, Harley Davidson, +1,550.0%, current yield = 11.0%
- EXPD, Expeditors International Washington, +1,500%, current yield = 1.2%
- SYK, Stryker Corp., +1,233.3%, current yield = 1.0%
- CHRW, CH Robinson Worldwide, +1,100.0%, current yield = 2.1%
- HD, Home Depot, +1,050.0%, current yield = 4.1%
- LLTC, Linear Technology Corporation, +950.0%, current yield = 3.9%
- MCD, McDonald's Corporation, +900.0%, current yield = 3.4%
- LOW, Lowe's Companies, +800.0%, current yield = 1.7%
- VMC, Vulcan Materials, +716.7%, current yield = 3.6%
- AFL, ALFAC Inc., +700.0%, current yield = 3.3%
- BRO, Brown and Brown, Inc., +700.0%, current yield = 1.5%
- EV, Eaton Vance, +675.0%, current yield = 3.6%
- PAYX, Paychex Inc., +675.0%, current yield = 4.9%
- HHS, Harte Hanks, +650.0%, current yield = 3.9%
- HOC, Holly Corp., +650.0%, current yield = 2.6%
- ATR, AptarGroup, +650.0%, current yield = 2.0%
- TSS, Total System Services, +600.0%, current yield = 2.1%
- MTB, M & T Bank Corp., +600.0%, current yield =7.4%
- CAH, Cardinal Health Inc., +600.0%, current yield = 1.5%
- CRRC, Courier Corp., +600.0%, current yield =5.0%
- VIVO, Meridian Bioscience Inc., +600.0%, current yield = 2.7%
- MDT, Medtronic, Inc., +526.7%, current yield = 2.3%
- TJX, TJX Companies, Inc., +450.0%, current yield = 2.2%
- WWW, Wolverine World Wide, +450.0%, current yield = 2.3%
- PX, Praxair Inc., +435.7%, current yield =2.5%
As always, an unusually high dividend can be a signal that investors expect a company to cut its payout. A number of companies on the Broad Dividend Achievers list cut their dividends last year including ABK, AIG, BBX, BANR, C, CNB, CMA, CORS, FITB, FSNM, GGP, HRC, HZRB, NYT, PL, PBKS, RBPAA, SBCF, SBKC, TSFG, SWWC, STI, SNV , WFSL, WCBO and WTNY.
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