Dividend Increase: HRL

Hormel Foods (HRL) is increasing its quarterly dividend by 17.6%, from $0.17 to $0.20 per share, putting the company on track for its 48th consecutive year of dividend growth (news release). Given that I own 100 shares of HRL, my quarterly dividend increases from $17.00 to $20.00 and my yield on cost becomes 2.84%. The extra $12.00 in annual dividend income raises my forward 12-month dividend total to $3,498. This is the second dividend increase among the stocks in my portfolio that takes effect in 2014. There have been dividend increases for 31 of the 33 stocks in my portfolio in 2013; an increase from BDX should be announced any day now and there will be no increase from INTC this year.