A snapshot of the important news and events from the world of dividend paying companies. This week was a slow one for dividend increases, but we did have a spin-off, some earnings releases, and 2 companies announced consumer price increases for their products.
* I apologize for the late posting, I had a family affair this weekend
Dividend Raises
Ingersoll-Rand plc (NYSE:IR) a world leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable and efficient environments, announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of 12 cents per ordinary share of the company, reflecting a 71 percent increase. The board also authorized the repurchase of up to $2 billion of the company’s ordinary shares. The dividend is payable June 30, 2011, to shareholders of record on June 17, 2011. The previous quarterly dividend was 7 cents per share.
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) declared a quarterly cash dividend on the common stock of 35 cents per share, an increase of 25 cents per share, or 250 percent, from the prior quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share. The new dividend is payable May 5, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 18, 2011. The board also confirmed that the company may begin to purchase common stock under its existing 25 million share repurchase program in open market or privately negotiated transactions. PNC plans to repurchase up to $500 million of common stock during the remainder of 2011.
The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the U.S. and worldwide, today announced that its Board of Directors has raised the amount of its quarterly dividend by 27% from the last dividend paid. The Board declared a regular quarterly dividend in the amount of $.19 per share, payable June 2, 2011, to shareholders of record on May 12, 2011.
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (SKT) increased its quarterly dividend 3.2% to $0.20/share. The dividend is payable on May 13, 2011 to shareholders of record on April 29, 2011.
Mergers, Acquisitions, and Misc
Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) and The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) announced the signing of a definitive agreement to merge the Pringles business (“Pringles”) into Diamond Foods in a transaction valued at $2.35 billion.
American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) reported that on March 30, 2011 the Arizona Corporation Commission (“ACC”) approved the sale of AWR’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Arizona, Chaparral City Water Company (“CCWC”). On June 7, 2010, AWR entered into a stock purchase agreement with EPCOR Water (USA) Inc. (“EPCOR”) to sell all of the common stock of CCWC for a total purchase price of $35 million, including the assumption of approximately $6 million of long-term debt.
HCP (NYSE:HCP) announced that it closed the acquisition of 334 post-acute, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities of HCR ManorCare for a total consideration of $6.1 billion in cash. HCR ManorCare, based in Toledo, Ohio, is widely recognized as a leading provider of short-term post-acute services and long-term care.
Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s (NASDAQ: INTC) global investment organization, today announced a $20 million investment in Kno Inc., an education software company. Kno will use the funding to develop its innovative educational software solutions for multiple platforms, including Intel® architecture.
RPM International Inc. (NYSE: RPM) today reported a sharp increase in net sales for its fiscal 2011 third quarter ended February 28, 2011, compared to year-earlier pro-forma net sales. RPM also posted positive net income and earnings per share for the seasonally weak quarter, contrasted with a year-earlier pro-forma loss. Net sales grew 12.6% to $678.9 million from a pro-forma $603.1 million, while net income attributable to RPM stockholders was $1.1 million, compared to a year earlier pro-forma loss of $9.7 million. Diluted earnings per share were $0.01, contrasted with a pro-forma loss of $0.08 in the year-ago period. Consolidated earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) grew 323.8%, to $13.6 million from a pro-forma $3.2 million in the fiscal 2010 third quarter.
5 Comments
I’ve looked into RPM from time to time and have never bitten. What’s your thoughts on RPM? Of those companies I’m looking at Intel the most. I’m not a big fan of tech companies but it’s a value right now. What do you think?
I’m a big fan of Intel, and think they are a great buy under $20. They’ve got a few years of dividend increases under their belt, a high yield, and are trading at only 10x earnings. The “death of the pc world” is overblown, which is part of the reason their valuation is so low.
Also, while they haven’t yet made solid inroads into the smartphone / tablet market, this is also a very young market, where pcs were in the 90’s. They’ve been working overtime on smaller, more energy efficient processors, and I think you will soon see their atom processors in these types of devices.
As for RPM, I haven’t taken a look at them in a while, but I never found them that exciting. I remember they’ve had some years of 100%+ dividend payouts, and their dividend growth was pretty sluggish, I think averaging around 5%. During the market crash you could have bought the stock when it yielded over 7%, which might have been worth it. But at 17x earnings and yielding only 3.6% there are better companies out there.