Dividend Growth

This article by Bob Carrick in the Globe and Mail talks about how dividends had much better growth in 2007 than today. One thing he does not mention is inflation rates compared to dividend growth. According to the Bank of Canada inflation is really low compared to the past.

I also have experienced a slowdown of dividend growth for my portfolio since 2007. My 5 year median dividend growth was 12.91% in 2007. My 5 year median growth in 2015 was 9.23%. My dividend growth so far this year is 5.03%. However, my 5 year median growth to 2002 was 9.73%. Also, my best 5 year dividend growth rate was in 2009 and 2010 (a tie) with growth at 14.94%.

In this first table I am showing what happen in connection with dividends in 2007 for the stocks I own and the stocks that I follow. For the stocks that I own I had no dividend decreases, 82% of the stocks had dividend increases and 6% had no change. The N/A is because some of the stock had no dividend; mostly this was because they were not paying any. An example would have been Goodfellow. I bought this stock in 2013 after it started to pay dividends in 2009. It paid no dividends in 2007.

The last two columns of this chart are showing what happened for all the stocks that I follow. In 2007, 4% had dividend decreases, 70% had dividend increases, 15% had no change in dividends and 11% had no dividends.

In any year that dividends are reduced to zero, it would show up as a decrease in the year dividends were cut and then show as no dividends in the following year.

Action	Me %	Me No.	All %	All No.
Decrease	0%	0	4%	6
Increase	82%	41	70%	106
No Change	6%	3	15%	23
n/a	12	6	11%	17
Total	100%	50	100%	152

This next table is showing what happened in connection with dividends in 2015. In that year 10% of my stocks decreased their dividends, 56% of my stock increased their dividends, 32% of my stocks had no dividend change and 2% paid no dividends. If dividends were reduced to zero in 2015, it would show as a decrease.

The last two columns of this chart are showing what happened for all the stocks that I follow. In 2015, 9% had dividend decreases, 56% had dividend increases, 32% had no change in dividends and 3% had no dividends.

Action	Me %	Me No.	All %	All No.
Decrease	10%	5	9%	14
Increase	56%	28	56%	85
No Change	32%	16	32%	48
n/a	2%	1	3%	5
Total	100%	50	100%	152

It would seem that there were more increases and fewer decreases in 2007 than in 2015. I have not included dividend changes in 2016 as all the data is not in for that year. The reason for the fewer stocks with no dividends in 2016 is because I started to follow a number of stocks after they started to pay dividends. Currently I follow 13 stocks with zero dividends of which of which 3 never had dividends. With my stocks, I current have 5 with no dividends with 1 stock never having any dividends.

On my other blog I wrote yesterday about Parkland Fuel Corp. (TSX-PKI, OTC-PKIUF)... learn more. Tomorrow, I will write about AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. (TSX-AGT, OTC-AGXXF)... learn more on Friday, June 24, 2016 around 5 pm.

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

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