Getting a pay raise while sitting on the couch? Sign me up! Thanks Walgreens for another dividend increase!
On Thursday the Board of Directors at Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) gave shareholders a pay raise. The dividend was increased from $0.40 up to $0.44 per share per quarter. That's a solid 10.0% increase. Walgreens has grown their payout to shareholders for 42 consecutive years which gives them the title of Dividend Champion. Shares currently yield 2.95% based on the new annualized payout.
The new dividend will be paid out on September 12, 2018 to shareholders of record as of August 20th.
*The spikes in the dividend payout were in 1983 and 1985 when a $1 special dividend was paid out.
Walgreens' dividend growth history has been pretty phenomenal. Not many companies can grow their dividend payout for 42 consecutive years let alone be able to grow it above 10% per year over most 10 year periods.
Looking at the following chart it you can see that the late 1990's/early 2000's was a bit of a rough patch for Walgreens much like the last few years. However, with the big 10% increase that was just announced I hope that we can see a run on dividend growth similar to how dividend growth accelerated starting in 2002. Time will tell but I'd content if they can continue on with at least high single digit raises more often than not.
*2018's dividend assumes the new quarterly payout of $0.44 per share is maintained for the rest of the year.
This raise increased my forward dividends by $7.37 with me doing nothing. That's right, absolutely nothing to contribute to their operations. Based on my portfolio's current yield of 3.02% this raise is like I invested an extra $244 in capital. Except that I didn't! One of the companies I own just decided to send more cash my way.
Thus far in 2018 I've received 33 dividend increases from 31 of the companies in my FI Portfolio combining to increase my forward 12-month dividends by $304.04.
My FI Portfolio's forward-12 month dividends increased to $6,328.29. Including my FolioFirst portfolio's forward dividends of $82.62 brings my total taxable accounts dividends to $6,410.91. My Roth IRA's forward 12-month dividends are at $343.51.
Do you own Walgreens in your own portfolio?
Nice pickup here PIP! $7 without lifting a finger. Ah, dividend investing at its finest. I saw they made this announcement a little early, so I was pumped to see this news for everyone!
How do you follow each company close enough to know when an increase has been announced? Once I purchase the lot I sort of just ignore all the noise.