Quality assets fuel this dividend

Article Excerpt

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred an investor flight to quality stocks like Emera. Shares of the utility are down just 3.4% since the start of 2020, compared to the 10.5% drop for the S&P/TSX Composite Index. This resilience just enhances the long-term appeal of Emera, which gets most of its revenue from regulated businesses. Predictable cash flows from those businesses will also let it keep raising your dividend. EMERA INC. $54 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol EMA; Income-Growth Payer Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 241.1 million; Market cap: $13.0 billion; Dividend yield: 4.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.emera.com) owns 100% of Nova Scotia Power, that province’s main electricity supplier. It also owns 100% of Tampa Electric, which provides electricity to more than 765,000 customers. Its other interests include several power plants and natural gas pipelines in the U.S. and the Caribbean. Emera’s high-quality regulated utilities give it plenty of steady cash flow for dividends. It last increased the quarterly dividend by 4.3% with the November 2019…