Premium Brands Holdings Corp. (TSX: PBH) and Fiera Capital Corp. (TSX: FSZ) just made very shareholder-friendly moves and raised their dividends by over 5%. Let’s take a closer look at each company, their new dividends, and their track records of dividend growth, so you can determine if you should invest in one or both of them today.
Premium Brands Holdings Corp.
Premium Brands Holdings is one of North America’s leading producers, marketers, and distributors of specialty food products. Its family of specialty brands includes Harvest Meats, Piller’s, Hygaard, and Oven Pride, and its group of food distribution companies includes Premium Brands Distribution, Centennial Foodservice, Maximum Seafood, and B&C Foods.
In its fiscal 2017 fourth-quarter and full-year earnings release on March 15, Premium Brands announced a 13.1% increase to its quarterly dividend to $0.475 per share, equating to $1.90 per share annually, which brings its yield up to about 1.65% at the time of this writing.
Here are three notes investors should make about the new dividend.
First, the first quarterly payment at the increased rate is payable on April 16 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 16.
Second, the company has raised its annual dividend payment for five consecutive years, which earned it the right to be added to the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index in February, and the hike it just announced puts it on track for 2018 to mark the sixth consecutive year with an increase.
Third, I think Premium Brands’s consistently strong growth of free cash flow, including its 4.5% year-over-year increase to $4.41 per share in 2017, and its ongoing acquisition activity that will help fuel future growth, including the four acquisitions it announced in its fourth-quarter earnings release, will allow its streak of annual dividend increases to continue for many years to come.
Fiera Capital Corp.
Fiera Capital is Canada’s third-largest publicly traded asset manager. As of December 31, 2017, it has approximately $128.9 billion in assets under management.
In its fiscal 2017 fourth-quarter and full-year earnings release on March 23, Fiera announced a 5.6% increase to its quarterly dividend to $0.19 per share, equating to $0.76 per share annually, which brings its yield up to about 6.7% at the time of this writing.
Here are three notes investors should make about the new dividend.
First, the first payment at the increased rate will come on May 2 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 4.
Second, the asset manager has raised its annual dividend payment for seven consecutive years, and its two hikes in the last 12 months, including its 5.9% hike in August and the one noted above, have it on track for 2018 to mark the eighth straight year with an increase.
Third, I think Fiera’s very strong growth of operating cash flow, including its 60.9% year-over-year increase to $92.52 million in 2017, and its growing asset base that will help fuel future growth, including its 10.2% year-over-year increase to $128.9 billion as of December 31, 2017, will allow its streak of annual dividend increases to continue for many years to come.
