New projects will spur their dividends

Article Excerpt

These pipeline operators get most of their cash flow from regulated businesses. Plans to expand those operations should give them more room to raise dividends in 2023. TC ENERGY CORP. $55 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TRP; Income-Growth Payer Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $55.0 billion; Dividend yield: 6.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.tcenergy.com) operates a 93,300-kilometre pipeline network that pumps natural gas from Alberta to eastern Canada and the U.S. Its also operates 4,900 kilometres of crude oil pipelines and seven power plants. TC raised its quarterly dividend by 3.4% with the April 2022 payment. The annual rate of $3.60 a share yields a high 6.5%. The company has raised that payment each year for the past 22 years. Today, TC owns 35% of the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline, which will pump natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Kitimat, B.C. From there, tankers will carry the LNG to markets in Asia. Coastal…