Dividend Champion And Contender Highlights: Week Of March 22

A weekly summary of dividend activity for Dividend Champions and Contenders.
Companies which declared increased dividends.
Companies with upcoming ex-dividend dates.
Companies with upcoming pay dates.
Introduction
The Dividend Champions list is a monthly compilation of companies which have consistently increased their annual dividend payouts, and the latest edition may be found here. However, since this list is only produced once per month, the data in it can quickly get out of date. Furthermore, with close to 900 companies on the list, the sheer amount of data can quickly become overwhelming. In this weekly series, I highlight recent and upcoming dividend related activity for companies holding Champion (25+ years) and Contender (10-24 years) status.
In the data presented below, Yield is forward annualized and Years reflects the up-to-date streak, including dividends declared since the last edition of the Dividend Champions list.
Dividend Increases
In the past week, no companies on the Champion or Contender lists declared dividends which were higher than their previous payouts.
Last Chance to Buy
These companies have ex-dividend dates approaching. The following tables indicate the last day you can buy these stocks in order to be eligible for the upcoming dividend. Tables are sorted alphabetically by symbol.
Monday March 23 (Ex-Div 3/24)
Company
Symbol
Pay Date
Payout
Price
Yield
Years
Altria Group Inc.
(MO)
4/30
0.84
34.28
9.80%
50
Portland General Electric Co.
(POR)
4/15
0.385
40.28
3.82%
14

Tuesday March 24 (Ex-Div 3/25)
Company
Symbol
Pay Date
Payout
Price
Yield
Years
International Flavors & Fragrances
(IFF)
4/6
0.75
102.41
2.93%
17

Wednesday March 25 (Ex-Div 3/26)
Company
Symbol
Pay Date
Payout
Price
Yield
Years
Equity LifeStyle... Read more