With no more dividend raises expected in my Portfolio for 2023, I’m ready to summarize the raises I received this year.
I’ll note which Portfolio companies offered a larger raise in 2023 than in 2022. I’ll also provide my thoughts on some of the raise percentages.
Here we go…
In the rightmost column, if you see a ‘+’ that means that this year’s dividend raise is larger than the one I received from the stock last year. A ‘*’ means that the stock is new to my Portfolio in 2023, or I don’t have a “received raise percentage” from 2022 to compare to. I right-justified the ‘*’ to make it easier to see relative to the ‘+’.
Dividend raises were roughly on par with those from last year. I thought it might be a banner year after a very strong January, but things quickly changed course.
I had only one stock provide a raise of 20% or more, compared to 4 such raises last year. That lone raise was a monster 50% hike from Nexstar Media Group (NXST). This topped its 28.57% raise from 2022. NXST keeps delivering terrific dividend raises. I’m not counting the raise from The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) as being better than 20% since it was a raise from a suspended dividend.
My next best raise came from Aflac (AFL), which provided a 19.05% raise… a nice rebound from the 5.00% boost from last year.
There were two other stocks in the 15% to 19.99% range this year. First, Visa (V) delivered a 15.56% raise. This was actually a step down from last year’s 20% dividend raise. The other raise in this range came courtesy of Accenture (ACN) at 15.18%.
With regard to the 10% to 14.99% range (which I consider ‘great’), I had 8 stocks end up here, with 6 providing better raises than in 2022. Sadly, the 8 stocks is a small decline from the 10 such companies I had in this range in 2022. Perhaps the most surprising stock in this group was Pepsico (PEP). A 10% raise from PEP is not normal at all, especially a stock with such a long dividend raise streak (50 years now).
Adding up the double-digit raises for 2023, I collected 12 all totaled. This was fewer double-digit dividend raises than in 2022 (15). Despite that, about 20% of my Portfolio stocks managed a double-digit raise. Not bad, but I’ll be looking for more next year.
In the range of 7.00% to 9.99% (which I consider ‘good’), I had 13 stocks – up from 12 in 2022. Five of those thirteen stocks gave raises that exceeded their ones from the previous year. The 9.52% raise from RPM International (RPM) stood out to me considering it was noticeably higher than any recent raise of theirs. Caterpillar (CAT), Air Products & Chemicals (APD), Starbucks (SBUX), Comcast (CMCSA) and Cummins (CMI) were repeat participants in this range. This is now 4 years in a row in this range for SBUX and CMCSA, and 3 years in a row for CAT. This kind of dividend growth consistency is welcomed.
In the range of 4.00% to 6.99% (which I consider ‘average’), I had 16 stocks – up from 14 in 2022. Only two of the sixteen companies in this group increased their raise percentage relative to 2022. Main Street Capital (MAIN), Merck & Co. (MRK), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), General Dynamics (GD), AbbVie (ABBV) and Altria Group (MO) were repeat participants in this range for 2023. Unfortunately, Illinois Tool Works (ITW), VICI Properties (VICI), Amgen (AMGN), Lockheed Martin (LMT) & Texas Instruments (TXN) slipped into this range after better raises last year. The biggest fall into this range came from Lowe’s Companies (LOW), which dropped from a 31.25% hike in 2022 to a 4.76% raise in 2023.
In the range of 0%+ to 3.99% (which I consider ‘disappointing’) were 13 stocks – up from 11 in 2022. Seven stocks remained in this range compared to 2022. These stocks included Realty Income (O), NNN REIT (NNN), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Eastman Chemical (EMN), Verizon Communications (VZ), Pinnacle West Capital (PNW) and OGE Energy (OGE). I’d like to see better dividend growth from these stocks, but don’t expect it. Perhaps EMN has the best chance. Four new stocks entered this range from loftier territory including Procter & Gamble (PG), Hormel Foods (HRL), BlackRock (BLK) and T. Rowe Price Group (TROW). The falls from a pair of Financials in BLK and TROW were especially prominent. BLK went from a 18.16% raise in 2022 to a 2.46% boost in 2023. Meanwhile, TROW went from an 11.11% raise in 2022 to a 1.67% hike in 2023.
At year’s end, I ended up with three of my Portfolio holdings having a frozen dividend. This is up one from last year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) no longer has a frozen dividend after its 5% dividend raise this year. However, I have a repeat offender in Omnicom (OMC). OMC has an inconsistent dividend raise schedule (I knew this when I established the position), but two years running with a frozen dividend is a bit concerning. At least the stock is performing well from a capital appreciation standpoint. Joining OMC with a frozen dividend were Union Pacific (UNP) and Whirlpool (WHR). UNP has been inconsistent with their dividend raises as well. Sometimes they make up for a lack of raises in one year by doubling up in a subsequent year – let’s hope that happens in 2024! The frozen dividend from WHR wasn’t a big surprise given the business environment and rising interest rates in 2023.
I no longer have any suspended dividends after The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) announced they will resume paying a dividend early in 2024, even though it will be at a reduced rate relative to when it was suspended.
A few other notes…
I list 58 companies in the table above, however, there are currently 59 stocks in my Portfolio. The one stock not shown is one that I established a position in during 2023, and which raised their dividend in 2023 prior to my purchase of the stock. Below is that company and the dividend raise they provided in 2023, even though I didn’t get to benefit from it.
- UGI Corp. (UGI) – 4.17%
If I eliminated a stock from my Portfolio during 2023, it’s not included in the table above. However, if there was a dividend raise prior to my sale, I note it below. Here are the 4 stocks that exited my Portfolio this year, in the order in which they departed.
- 3M Co. (MMM) – 0.67%
- Medical Properties Trust (MPW)
- Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)
- V.F. Corp. (VFC) – I suffered through dividend cuts of 41.18% and 70% before selling
There you have it… my dividend raise summary for 2023. Here’s hoping for bigger raises in 2024, as dividend raises are the primary contributor to my forward dividend income added throughout the year.
Tell me about your dividend raises for 2023? Anything stand out?