New assets continue to fuel their dividends

Article Excerpt

Pipeline operators TC Energy and Enbridge continue to spend large sums on new projects. Most of these projects are either regulated by governments or secured by long-term contracts with oil and gas producers. Those steady cash flows will let them keep raising their dividends. TC ENERGY CORP. $71 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TRP; Income-Growth Payer Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 981.0 million; Market cap: $69.7 billion; Dividend yield: 5.1%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.tcenergy.com) operates a 93,300-kilometre pipeline network that pumps natural gas from Alberta to eastern Canada and the U.S. Its other operations include 4,900 kilometres of crude oil pipelines and seven power plants capable of generating 4,200 MW of electricity. TC raised its quarterly dividend by 3.4% with the April 2022 payment. The annual rate of $3.60 a share yields a high 5.1%. The company has now raised that payment each year for the past 22 years. It now intends to increase the dividend by 3% to 5% annually. In 2021, the…