Dividend Hike Onslaught (ACE, CLX, DPS, NOC, SWY, XEL)

It felt like the pace of dividend hikes was slowing down.  Wrong.  There were at least six big hikes today that came from the likes of ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE), Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX), Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), and Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL).

ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE) approved all matters submitted to the ACE Limited 2010 Annual General Meeting.  This included a 6.5% increase to its quarterly dividend to $1.32 annually ($0.33 per quarter) from $1.24.  This give the insurer and reinsurer a yield of 2.5%.

The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 cents per share, which is up a nickel or by 10%.  The household and consumer products company now has an implied dividend yield of 3.4%.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS) is one we already predicted this year that would hike the payout.  It did, and handsomely.  The quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share is up 67% and “follows the company’s attainment of its target capital structure.”  The new implied dividend yield will be 2.6%.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.47 per common share, a 9.3% from the previous $0.43 per share payout and is the seventh consecutive annual increase.  The implied dividend yield is now over 3.0%.

Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) announced that its board declared a regular quarterly cash dividend and approved a 20% increase from $0.10 per share to $0.12 each quarter per share.  The grocery chain now yields 2.0%.

Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) raised its quarterly dividend from $0.245 per share per quarter to a rate of $0.2525 per share per quarter.  The electric utility’s old annual payout of $0.98 will now be $1.01, and that in turn generates a dividend yield of about 4.75%.

The hikes keep coming.  Stay tuned for more dividend hike predictions… followed by more dividend hikes.

JON C. OGG