Updating your Income-Growth Payers: Enbridge Inc.

Article Excerpt

ENBRIDGE INC. $41 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol ENB; Income-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares o/s: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $82.0 billion; Divd. yield: 7.9%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.enbridge.com) operates pipelines that pump oil and natural gas from Western Canada to eastern Canada and the U.S. It also distributes gas to 3.7 million consumers in Ontario and Quebec. With the March 2020 payment, Enbridge increased its quarterly dividend 9.8%, to $0.81 a share from $0.738. The company’s new annual rate of $3.24 yields a high 7.9%. Enbridge has raised its annual dividend rate each year for the past 25 years. In the quarter ended March 31, 2020, the company’s revenue fell 6.6%, to $12.01 billion from $12.86 billion a year earlier. The decline is partly because Enbridge sold $400 million of less-important operations. Warmer-than-usual weather also hurt gas sales in Ontario and Quebec. Cash flow fell 1.9%, to $2.71 billion from $2.76 billion; cash flow per share slipped 2.2%, to $1.34 from…