Just in time for the dividend-stock lover on your holiday list, numerous companies have declared payout raises in recent days. All three are regular dividend payers, strong cash generators, and book a profit far more often than not. So there are surely more raises to come from this trio in the near future.
What's more, none of these freshly enhanced payouts have yet reached their ex-dividend dates. This means there is still time to take advantage of the hikes just announced by Deere (DE 2.10%), Waste Management (WM 1.57%), and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY 1.43%).
1. Deere
Deere, one of the most prominent companies in agricultural machinery, added to its quarterly payout with a 6% raise to $1.20 per share. The company has paid a dividend consistently since 1971, but it can be erratic about raising it. Since the end of 2020, it has done so four times; prior to that, the distribution was unchanged since December 2018.
The announcement of the dividend raise, not coincidentally, came days after the company reported on the fourth quarter and the full year of its fiscal 2022. Revenue for the year was up a beefy 19% (to almost $53 million), with net income growth slightly, eclipsing that rise with a 20% improvement to over $7.1 million. What helped greatly was the fourth quarter's top line, which notched a new all-time high for any Deere quarter.
The company is a turbocharged tractor of a business these days, thanks to two major factors.
NYSE: DE
Key Data Points
The first is higher prices for agricultural products, which makes farmers more profitable and thus better positioned to buy new equipment. The second is the government's sprawling Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law just over one year ago, which for obvious reasons is a boon for machinery companies like Deere.
Both factors should continue to push the company's fundamentals upward and support more dividend raises.
Deere's new payout will be distributed on Feb. 8 next year to investors of record as of Dec. 30. At the most recent closing share price, it would yield 1.1%.
2. Waste Management
Another company on the top of its heap -- almost literally -- is garbage removal specialist Waste Management. It's also another dividend raiser, with the board of directors voting for a nearly 8% hike in its quarterly payout to $0.70. The company also is gearing up to scoop up plenty of its own stock, thanks to the authorization of a new $1.5 billion share-buyback program.
Compared to Deere's business, Waste Management's is steadier. Garbage disposal tends to be fairly predictable. Even in high-consumption America, the volume of waste that needs removing isn't likely to see sharp expansions or contractions.
Yet the company's management has been adept lately at growing the top line, thanks in no small part to frequent acquisitions. Profitability has been boosted by keeping costs largely in check. Both revenue and, especially, net income rose nicely in the most recently reported quarter -- the former by 9% year over year, and the latter by a robust 18%.
NYSE: WM
Key Data Points
So it's little wonder that Waste Management is a dependably regular dividend raiser, with the latest hike representing the 20th year in a row it has made an increase. Slow and steady wins this race, and in the process keeps putting more money in the pockets of investors.
The company hasn't yet set a record or payment date for the first of the dividend raises. Regardless, it would yield 1.8% at the stock's current price.
3. Bristol Myers Squibb
The pharmaceutical industry isn't exactly a hotbed of dividend payers, let alone raisers. So Bristol Myers Squibb is rather an outlier, having distributed a payout to its shareholders for 91 years in a row. Its current raise streak is 14 years, meanwhile, with the 14th being an almost 6% boost (to a quarterly $0.57 per share) declared earlier this month.
Bristol Myers is a cagey veteran in its business; it knows how to make money and throw off cash as it does so. That's no easy feat in a sector that requires constant innovation and product development, activities that can get very costly.
NYSE: BMY
Key Data Points
Like the best pharmaceutical companies, this one has a good mix of products new to market, blockbusters that have been performing well for years, and a very wide pipeline full of potential top sellers.
Revenue rose by 8% year over year in its latest reported quarter (to $11.2 billion), quite a fine performance for a business of its sprawl, size, and history. The growth in net income was more modest, at 4%, but the line item still landed well in the black at over $1.6 billion.
Zooming out to annual results, the free cash flow that helps fund those constant dividend rises keeps heading north. It rose a pleasant 14% and change in 2021 over the previous year to land at a mighty $15 billion-plus.
Bristol Myers Squibb's enhanced dividend will be distributed on March 1 of next year, to shareholders of record as of Jan. 31. Its theoretical 3.1% yield makes it the champ out of our three dividend raisers mentioned here.
