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Strategies & Market Trends : Dividend investing for retirement -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Triffin who wrote (10623)	12/23/2011 12:59:46 PM
From: Ditchdigger	Respond to of 34328

Thanks Triff, never know about Yahoo stats though. PBCT Q3/11 "-Operating dividend payout ratio declined to 85% from 95% -Repurchased 15.8 million shares of common stock at a weighted average price of $11.81 pg 18 bar chart worth a look ditch peoples.com

To: Triffin who wrote (10623)	12/23/2011 3:19:24 PM
From: Triffin	Respond to of 34328

The case for increasing dividend payouts from major utilities in 2012 .. ===== Dominion Resources Inc., Sempra Energy (SRE) and other regulated utility owners may increase their dividends next year after payouts fell to historically low levels because of concern about U.S. pollution rules, a fund manager for Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) said. Utilities have been “holding off” on spending plans and dividends while awaiting final rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut power-plant emissions, John Kohli, who manages $3.6 billion as portfolio manager for the Franklin Utilities Fund, said in a Dec. 20 phone interview. “The dividend-payout ratio for this industry is down around 60 percent, which is at the low end at where most companies target,” Kohli said. The 10-year average industry payout ratio of dividends to earnings is about 65 percent, he said. The EPA issued standards on Dec. 21 to cut mercury and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants, rules that it estimates will cost $9.6 billion a year. Agency regulations on power-plant emissions that contribute to cross-state pollution are set to take effect in 2012 and have been challenged in court. Utility owners paid out $18 billion in dividends last year, according to the Edison Electric Institute, a Washington-based group representing investor-owned utilities that supply about 95 percent of U.S. power customers. The industry’s payout ratio was 59 percent for the first nine months of the year, the lowest on an annual basis since at least 1993, according to the institute. Dominion rose 0.8 percent to $53.14 at 10:24 a.m. in New York. Sempra increased 1.5 percent to 54.90. One-Third Rise A third of the companies in the 15-member Dow Jones Utilities Average, including Dominion, are projected to raise their dividend in the next quarter, according to the Bloomberg Dividend Forecast. The dividend yield (UTIL) for the index is expected to rise to 4.08 percent in 2012 from 3.94 percent in 2011, according to Bloomberg. Dominion sees its payout ratio next year near the top of its target range of 60 percent to 65 percent of expected earnings, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said on Dec. 20. “We expect our board of directors will declare an increase in the dividend rate in January,” Ryan Frazier, a Dominion spokesman, said in a Dec. 21 e-mail. The quarterly dividend is expected to rise 7.6 percent to 53 cents, according to Bloomberg forecasts. Sempra Energy may also raise its payout next year, Kohli said. In February, San Diego-based Sempra raised its annual dividend 23 percent to $1.92 a share and established a payout ratio of 45 percent to 50 percent of earnings. Based on the company’s 2012 outlook, this implies an annual dividend next year in the $2 to $2.20 range, Kohli said. Doug Kline, a spokesman for Sempra, declined to comment on a dividend increase. Sempra’s board evaluates the dividend policy on a regular basis, he said in a phone interview. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Chediak in San Francisco at mchediak@bloomberg.net ===== Triff ..