Amazing Week For Dividend Growth

If you like dividend growth, then the upcoming week should be treated as a holiday.

FOUR great companies are increasing their dividends over the next few days.

And all of them have payout ratios below 50%.

Wow!

First up is Lowe’s Companies (ticker: LOW), the second-largest home improvement retailer in the United States.

Lowe’s has increased its dividend payment for 55 straight years!

Its next increase, up to $1.20 per share every quarter, happens for Lowe’s investors on July 22nd (tomorrow!).

Lowe’s has a lower dividend yield of only 2.15%, but the retailer’s 8% profit margin is one of the highest in the entire retail sector.

Next is Marsh & McLennan (ticker: MMC), a consulting and risk management firm headquartered in New York City.

Marsh & McLennan’s dividend yield is even lower than Lowe’s, at only 1.7%.

But the company just increased its next payment by over 10% to $0.90 per share for investors on July 23rd (Wednesday).

Earnings for Marsh & McLennan have averaged almost 13% growth each year over the last decade.

With a payout ratio of only 35%, Marsh & McLennan will have no problem keeping its dividend rising every year.

Not many apparel manufacturers pay dividends, but Levi Strauss (ticker: LEVI) is an exception.

Levi Strauss is increasing its payment to $0.14 per share for investors on July 23rd (Wednesday).

The increase doesn’t seem like a lot, but Levi Strauss has been fast-tracking its payments since restarting payments after COVID.

Its dividend has risen on average over 25% each year over the last five years.

If its dividend growth doesn’t entice you, then Levi Strauss’s industry-leading 20% Return on Equity (ROE) should seal the deal.

Last up is Unum Group (ticker: UNM), one of the largest income insurance companies in the United States.

Income insurance includes disability, life, accident, and illness insurance.

Unum has one of the highest dividend growth rates for insurers, raising dividends by almost 10% each year over the last five years.

Unum’s next higher payment is coming up for investors on July 24th (Thursday).

The dividend yield is currently around 2.25%, mostly because Unum is the top-performing life insurance company over the last 5 years.

Unum stock is up more than 350% over the last five years!

All of these companies have a great history of dividend growth.

And they have incredibly low payout ratios so those payments can keep climbing in the future.

Have any of your stocks increased their payments recently?

Michael Jennings

This post originally appeared at Dividend Stocks Research.

Category: Dividend Stocks