Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, August 17, 2018

Article Excerpt

EMERA INC., $41.93, Toronto symbol EMA, owns 100% of Nova Scotia Power, that province’s main electricity supplier. It also holds interests in several power plants and natural gas pipelines in the U.S. and the Caribbean. The company will now raise its quarterly dividend by 4.0%. Starting with the November 2018 payment, investors will receive $0.5875 a share instead of $0.565. The new annual rate of $2.35 yields 5.6%. Meantime, Emera’s earnings in the second quarter of 2018 fell 5.1%, to $111 million from $117 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share declined 12.7%, to $0.48 from $0.55. Revenue fell 3.1%, to $1.42 billion from $1.47 billion. Those declines are mainly because cooler-than-normal spring weather hurt electricity demand for air conditioners. To spur its future growth, the company now plans to spend $1.7 billion U.S. on its Tampa, Florida, operations, including a new solar power facility. As a result of those outlays, Emera now plans to raise its annual…