By definition, blue chip stocks are the equities of companies long established in their businesses. Because these enterprises tend to be stable and generally profitable, many are also eager dividend payers who like to increase their distributions every year.
Two such companies declared fresh dividend raises as September came to an end, and it's worth looking at these hikes. It's also a good time to judge how, or if, the enhanced distributions contribute to the buy case for both industrial sector veteran Honeywell (HON -0.93%) and tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PM -2.03%).
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1. Honeywell
Honeywell is one of the more enduring and influential industrial companies around. It's also a reliable dividend payer, if not necessarily a raiser -- at times over the past few decades, extenuating circumstances have led management to pass on a dividend raise and keep the distribution level steady (most recently during the later stages of the 2009-2010 financial crisis).
Thankfully for shareholders, Honeywell is going the raise route this year. It recently declared a 5% hike to its quarterly payout, lifting it to $1.19 per share.
Large conglomerates are frequently in some kind of transition, since there are almost always laggard and rock star assets alike in the portfolio. Honeywell is transitioning hard, however, as it's splitting up into three companies: Solstice Advanced Materials, Honeywell Automation, and Honeywell Aerospace. Honeywell aims for the first of those -- Solstice -- to be hived off by the end of this year.
So there's a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Honeywell now, as it can be difficult to gauge how the business units will perform when not part of a whole.
In what's presumably one of its last reported quarters as a single business, Honeywell managed to grow its revenue by 8% year over year (to $10.4 billion) in the second quarter, although generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net income was up only marginally to almost $1.6 billion.
It also raised revenue and profitability guidance for full-year 2025, on the back of high demand for its aerospace components and maintenance offerings. That, obviously, bodes well for the future of Honeywell Aerospace.
Investors may be a bit spooked by the uncertainty, and are still getting accustomed to the fact that a once-monolithic American industrial giant is breaking up. This offers a good opportunity to get this stock -- which surely will end up being three stocks post-split -- at a bargain.
Honeywell's new dividend will be dispensed on Dec. 5 to investors of record as of Nov. 14. At the most recent closing share price, this would yield just under 2.3%.
2. Philip Morris International
Not everybody is fond of investing in "sin stocks," but for those who are willing, Philip Morris International has been generous to a fault. The tobacco producer's high-yield dividend has anchored many an income investor's equity portfolio over the years, and it's clearly important for management to keep it competitive.
Hence, the company's 9% dividend raise, which was declared in mid-September. The new quarterly payout will be $1.47 per share. The tobacco giant didn't hesitate to mention that this extends its streak of annual dividend raises, stretching all the way back to 2009, just after it was spun out from Altria.
The tobacco industry has struggled for decades in a world imposing increasingly stringent restrictions on smoking. That dovetails with generally higher public health consciousness. The pivot to next-generation products hasn't been easy.
Considering that, Philip Morris isn't doing too badly with the transition. Thanks to increasing take-up of cigarette alternatives, mainly vapes, the company's "smoke-free" (as it calls them) products saw a 15% year-over-year jump in sales in the company's Q2 to $4.2 billion. Even "combustibles" (traditional smokes) rose, if not spectacularly, by 2% to $6 billion. Total revenue topped $10 billion for a 7% gain.
With those tailwinds, plus some effective cost discipline, Philip Morris's headline net income saw a 25% boost to more than $3.1 billion. They also compelled management to raise bottom-line guidance for the entirety of 2025.
Looking deeper into those results, however, reveals a cause for concern. The higher take from cigarettes didn't come from volume; in fact, shipments declined by 1.5% over that one-year span. As such, products remain foundational for the company; it's likely to feel some squeeze from their seemingly endless decline.
That said, Philip Morris is still a thriving business, and as ever knows which levers to pull to keep the growth flame lit. Stay-the-course investors are sure to benefit from future dividend raises, too.
The company's spruced-up dividend is to be paid on Oct. 20 to stockholders of record as of Oct. 3. It yields a theoretical 3.6% at the current share price.
