Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Dividend Increase: NSC

Norfolk Southern (NSC) is increasing its quarterly dividend by 4.0%, from $0.50 to $0.52 per share, putting the company on track for its 12th consecutive year of dividend growth (news release). Given that I own 95 shares of NSC, my quarterly dividend increases from $47.50 to $49.40 and my yield on cost becomes 3.09%. The extra $7.60 in annual dividend income raises my forward 12-month dividend total to $2,439. Thus far this year, there have been dividend increases for 20 of the 28 stocks in my portfolio.

3 comments:

  1. Hmm... I'm a bit disappointed with this increase. With a portfolio of 30+ stocks, we're going see some stinkers here and there. I'm not too concerned, plus NSC is capable of doing another increase 6 months from now.

    4% gets the job done from the inflation protection standpoint, but is historically very low.

    I'm especially interested to see what INTC and ITW have in store for loyal shareholders this year. I'm somewhat worried with INTC...

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    Replies
    1. I just read that INTC did not increase the dividend with today's announcement. I was expecting a boost, NOT GOOD!

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    2. Regarding NSC: Even though the dividend increase is relatively low, it is not surprising in light of recent earnings. Declining coal volumes continue to weigh on their operating results, but I see that as a short-term problem.

      Regarding INTC: The absence of a dividend increase is disappointing, but like NSC, not surprising in light of recent earnings. To repeat a comment I made on Seeking Alpha earlier today, I continue to think that Intel has good long-term growth prospects. Everything seems to be in place with respect to technology and manufacturing for the company to make significant inroads into the mobile market. It's now a question of whether they can capitalize on that potential. If they can (and I think so), then we should see a return to dividend growth soon.

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