10-22-2013, 06:25 PM
I really hope you guys are right. This would seem to be the year for AFL to be a little more generous with the increase. The financial crisis is well in the past and the payout ratio leaves a lot of room to increase.
But.... if the earnings estimates are in the right ballpark, then they are looking at only a modest improvement over last year. 2012 saw a big increase in earnings over 2011, and we got an 8 percent raise. 2013 earnings look to be only a couple of percent better than 2012, so why would this be the year for a bigger increase? Moreover, with the share price going like gangbusters lately, I doubt they feel much pressure to make shareholders happy with a bigger dividend raise.
Anyway, I've been hoping for AFL to be more generous with the dividend for a while now, but they've been very content with raises in the 8-9 percent range. While I am hopeful that "this is the year," I'm not sure I see any reason to suggest it will be.
But.... if the earnings estimates are in the right ballpark, then they are looking at only a modest improvement over last year. 2012 saw a big increase in earnings over 2011, and we got an 8 percent raise. 2013 earnings look to be only a couple of percent better than 2012, so why would this be the year for a bigger increase? Moreover, with the share price going like gangbusters lately, I doubt they feel much pressure to make shareholders happy with a bigger dividend raise.
Anyway, I've been hoping for AFL to be more generous with the dividend for a while now, but they've been very content with raises in the 8-9 percent range. While I am hopeful that "this is the year," I'm not sure I see any reason to suggest it will be.