Three of our picks just raised their dividends

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $39 (Toronto symbol IMO; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $33.1 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s secondlargest integrated oil company, after Suncor Energy. U.S. based ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of Imperial. Imperial plans to raise its quarterly dividend by 6.7% with the July 2017 payment. Investors will then receive $0.16 a share instead of $0.15. The new annual rate of $0.64 yields 1.6%. That dividend yield seems low. However the company has paid dividends since 1891, and has increased the annual rate each year for the past 22 years. Imperial Oil is a buy. SUN LIFE FINANCIAL $44 (Toronto symbol SLF; Conservative Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 613.7 million; Market cap: $27.0 billion; Dividend yield: 4.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.sunlife.ca) sells life insurance, savings, retirement and pension products to individuals and corporations. The company mainly operates in Canada, the U.S. and…