One Raise at a Time | Dominion Energy

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Getting a pay raise while sitting on the couch?  Sign me up!  Thanks Dominion Energy for yet another dividend increase!
Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

On Friday last week the Board of Directors at Dominion Energy (D) announced an increase to their dividend.  The 2019 annual dividend was set at $3.67 compared to 2018's annual dividend of $3.34.  That puts the quarterly payout at $0.9175 compared to $0.835 or a whopping 9.88% increase.  Dominion is a Dividend Contender with 15 consecutive years of dividend increases.  Shares currently yield 4.83% based on the new annualized payout.

Since I own 15 shares of Dominion in my FI Portfolio this raise increased my forward 12-month dividends by $4.95.  This is the 1st dividend increase I've received from Dominion since initiating a position in September 2018.  



A full screen version of this chart can be found here.

A nearly 10% increase for the first raise from a company that I own is a great way to start things off.  Especially when you consider that the starting dividend yield is around 5.00%.  That's more than double the annual dividend growth that I'd be happy with.  

Dominion's dividend growth history isn't the strongest example of dividend growth investing; however, it's still a solid history.  The dividend was increased in both 1994 and 1995 and then was held steady through 2003.  Dividend growth then resumed in 2004 and has come every year since.  Dividend growth is also trending in the right direction which is a great sign for investors.

The 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year rolling dividend growth rates since 1993 can be found in the following chart.  



A full screen version of this chart can be found here.

*2019's dividend growth calculations assumes the new payout of $0.9175 per share is maintained for all of 2019.

Wrap Up

This raise increased my forward dividends by $4.95 with me doing nothing.  That's right, absolutely nothing to contribute to their operations.  Based on my portfolio's current yield of 3.05% this raise is like I invested an extra $162 in capital.  Except that I didn't!  One of the companies I own just decided to send more cash my way.  

That's how you can eventually reach the crossover point where your dividends received exceed your expenses.  That's DIVIDEND GROWTH INVESTING AT WORK!  The beauty of the dividend growth investing strategy is that you build up your dividends through fresh capital investment as well dividend increases from the companies you own.

So far in 2018 I've received 58 dividend increases from 49 of the companies in my FI Portfolio combining to increase my forward 12-month dividends by $476.59.  

My FI Portfolio's forward-12 month dividends increased to $6,738.94.  Including my FolioFirst portfolio's forward dividends of $92.09 brings my total taxable accounts dividends to $6,831.03.  My Roth IRA's forward 12-month dividends remain at $402.37.

Do you own shares of Dominion Energy?  Did you like seeing that nearly 10% increase?

Please share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Never really considered Dominion to show so much love but I think I have given less focus to energy companies lately. My focus has been on food and tech and those have given me nearly 10% yoy over the last 2 years. But, thanks to you, I know what I'm going to focus on in 2019. :D

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