Five Dividend Increases
This week has been rather dour from a stock market perspective. But there are some shining stars in the darkness. Five of our positions increased their dividends in the last week, so our income increases the easy way.
Easy Income Strategy Reminders
The goal of easy income is to have increasing income that requires little or no effort. When I buy any position, whether it is a stock or an ETF, I want to see gradually increasing dividends. Sometimes good news comes in packs of five, but that is, admittedly, rare. It really depends on the makeup of your investment portfolio. In today’s post there are two BDCs, one technology semiconductor stock, one industrial shipping company, and one financial services company based in Canada that has a focus on Life and Health Insurance.
A Dividend Increase Announcement
The five stocks that increased the dividend were CSWC, MFC, PNNT, SBLK, and SWKS.
PennantPark Investment Corporation (PNNT)
PennantPark Investment Corporation, a business development company is a private equity fund specializes in direct and mezzanine investments in middle market companies. PNNT currently has a STRONG BUY Seeking Alpha QUANT Rating. In addition to the 5% Dividend Hike PNNT switching to monthly dividend payouts. Therefore, PNNT is joining other monthly dividend payers like MAIN, GAIN, HRZN, ADC, and O.
Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC)
Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; and Corporate and Other segments. MFC currently has a STRONG BUY Seeking Alpha QUANT Rating.
Capital Southwest (CSWC)
Capital Southwest Corporation is a business development company specializing in credit and private equity and venture capital investments in middle market companies, mezzanine, later stage, mature, late venture, emerging growth, buyouts, recapitalizations and growth capital investments. It does not invest in startups, publicly traded companies, real estate developments, project finance opportunities, oil and gas exploration businesses, troubled companies, turnarounds, and companies in which significant senior management is departing. In lower middle market, the firm typically invests in growth financing, bolt-on acquisitions, new platform acquisitions, refinancing, dividend recapitalizations, sponsor-led buyouts, and management buyouts situations. CSWC currently has a STRONG BUY Seeking Alpha QUANT Rating.
Star Bulk Carriers Corp
SBLK is a maritime industrial stock. In other words, it is a shipping company. It engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. The company’s vessels transport a range of bulk commodities, including iron ores, minerals and grains, bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. As of December 31, 2022, it had a fleet of 128 dry bulk vessels with an aggregate capacity of approximately 14.1 million deadweight tons, including Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax, Ultramax, and Supramax vessels. The company also provides vessel management services. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Marousi, Greece. It currently has a HOLD QUANT rating.
Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (SWKS)
SWKS is a semiconductor company. Skyworks Solutions, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets proprietary semiconductor products in the United States, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the rest of Asia-Pacific. Its product portfolio includes amplifiers, antenna tuners, attenuators, automotive tuners and digital radios, clocks and timings, circulators/isolators, DC/DC converters, demodulators, detectors, diodes, wireless analog system on chip products, directional couplers, diversity receive modules, filters, front-end modules, hybrids, light emitting diode drivers, low noise amplifiers, mixers, modulators, optocouplers/optoisolators, phase locked loops, phase shifters, power dividers/combiners, receivers, switches, synthesizers, timing devices, technical ceramics, voltage controlled oscillators/synthesizers, and voltage regulators. It currently has a HOLD QUANT rating.
Recommendation
As always, diversify your investments. While I like all five of these investments, they aren’t for everyone. If I had to recommend one of the five, it would be CSWC. However, I think PNNT is a nice choice in retirement for monthly income.
Full Disclosure
Here is a complete picture of our holdings of these five. It should be easy to see that we have the most riding on CSWC.
Know Your Flocks & Herds 