The Dividend Investing Blog

Medical technology company, Medtronic (MDT), made the news wires today. The company raised their quarterly dividend 50% to $0.1875 per share. After closer inspection, we find that Medtronic has tripled its dividend over the past six years.

The dividend yield for Medtronic is only 1.5% after this recent increase. However, I try to find companies with consistent dividend growth. Looking back through Medtronics history using my Dividend Tool we find they do have very solid dividend growth from the beginning.

Sometimes the Yahoo! data I pull for the Dividend Tool is incorrect. In the case of Medtronic, I found the year 2000 looked like they didn’t pay much of dividend, but in fact they did pay $0.20.  I found a shorter dividend history on the Medtronic site. Still looks stellar.

Looking over their financials, they had increased revenue in 2008. However, their net income dropped 20%. The company appears to be cutting jobs and realigning their workforce in order to improve their bottom line. There is a solid dividend history here.

I had run across Medtronic quite a few years ago when I was buying Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRiPs). I recall they had fees which I didn’t like.  They still have a direct stock purchase program and it appears the same fee problem.

• $3 for an optional cash purchase
• $1 for an automatic withdrawal
• 5% on dividend reinvestment
• $.04 per share commission

As I have stated previously, I switched all my DRiPs over to FOLIOfn.  I pay one flat rate per year with unlimited transactions.  I think Medtronic may get a spot in my Dividend Strategy going forward. 

Currently I do not own shares of Medtronic.