Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, January 18, 2019

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD., Toronto symbols CU [class A non-voting] $33.34 and CU.X [class B voting] $33.16, distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta and Australia. It also holds all or part of 19 power plants—15 in Canada, 2 in Australia and 2 in Mexico. ATCO (see below) owns 52.3% of the company. Starting with the March 2019 payment, Canadian Utilities will raise its quarterly dividend by 7.5%. Investors will then receive $0.4227 a share instead of $0.3933 a share. The new annual rate of $1.69 yields a high 5.1%. The company has also suspended its dividend reinvestment plan, which let investors purchase new shares with their dividend payments at a 2% discount. The company launched the plan in 2012 when it was aggressively investing in operations. Now that it has completed those projects, it no longer needs to conserve cash. Canadian Utilities has raised its dividend each year since 1972. Including this latest increase, that payment has increased an average of 9.6% annually…