Dividend Increases, February 23-March 6, 2015

Companies that regularly increase their dividends show confidence in future earnings growth potential. I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list to identify candidates for further analysis and for possible inclusion in DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks.Another reason I monitor dividend increases is that I track the yield on cost (YoC) of stocks in my portfolio. When dividends increase, I make YoC adjustments and update DivGro's projected annual dividend income, a measure of the income potential of the portfolio over the next 12 months.In the past two weeks, 15 of the companies on my watch list announced dividend increases. Increases vary from 20% to as low as 2%. The following table provides a summary of these dividend increases.The table is sorted by last column, %Incr., and dividends are annualized. Yield indicates the new dividend yield for the market close Price on 6 March 2015. 5-yr DGR is the compound annual growth rate of the dividend over a five-year period. PEG ratio is the Price/Earnings to Growth ratio, or P/E divided by the 5-year future growth rate.Dividend Increases: February 23-March 6, 2015CompanyTickerYieldPrice(3/6/15)Yrs5-yrDGRPEGratioPrev.Div.NewDiv.%Incr. Infinity Property & CasualtyIPCC2.20%$78.061324.6%2.20$1.44$1.72+19.44 Eaton Corp plcETN3.23%$68.17614.4%2.00$1.96$2.20+12.24 General DynamicsGD2.05%$134.602310.2%1.83$2.48$2.76+11.29 Southwest Gas CorpSWX3.01%$53.8398.7%4.80$1.46$1.62+10.96 Horace Mann Educators... Read more