Updating your Income-Growth Payers: Emera Inc.

Article Excerpt

EMERA INC. $46 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol EMA; Income-Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 256.5 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Dividend yield: 6.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.emera.com) owns 100% of Nova Scotia Power, that province’s main electricity supplier. It also owns 100% of Teco Energy, which supplies electricity and natural gas to 1.3 million customers in Tampa Bay, Florida. Another of Teco’s businesses distributes gas to 545,000 customers in New Mexico. Its other interests include several power plants and natural gas pipelines in the U.S. and the Caribbean. With the November 2023 payment, Emera will raise your quarterly dividend by 4.0%. Investors will then receive $0.7175 a share instead of $0.69. The new annual rate of $2.87 yields a high 6.2%. As well, the company extended its target for annual dividend increases to between 4% and 5% through 2026. Emera also owns 100% of the Maritime Link undersea cable, which transmits electricity from the Muskrat Falls hydro-electric facility and other plants in…