By Stockpickr Staff
Posted on May 11, 2009

Clare Hart, portfolio manager for the JP Morgan Equity Income Fund, more companies have raised or initiated dividends since the beginning of April than have cut dividends.

This yet another indication that the economy is starting to turn. When a company increases its dividend, it demonstrates strength and longevity.

Stockpickr has reviewed the dividend declaration from the past week and compiled a portfolio of the dividend-increasers.

One company to raise its dividend was Bunge (BG), the agriculture, fertilizer and food company. Bunge bumped its quarterly cash dividend by 10.5%, from 19 cents to 21 cents per share, providing investors a yield of 1.5%. The dividend will be paid on Sept. 2 to shareholders of record on Aug. 19.

This dividend increase came in spite of the fact that last month, the company announced a 26% drop in revenue and a $1.76-per-share loss for the quarter, compared with a profit of $2.10 per share in the same quarter last year. Bunge also reduced its 2009 earnings guidance to $4.90 to $5.40.

Its dividend payout of $102.25 million, however, is very easily covered by Bunge's $2.53 billion in operating cash flow. It has $498 million in cash with $3.68 billion in debt.

One of the largest shareholders of Bunge is the Janus Adviser Forty Fund, a long-term capital growth fund rated five stars by Morningstar. The fund is ranked in the top 1% of all the funds in its category for the last three years. Other stocks in its portfolio include Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT), which has a yield of 0.4%; Goldman Sachs Group (GS), with a 1% yield; and Procter & Gamble (PG), with a 3.4% yield.

Steris (STE) is another recent dividend-booster. The company announced that it has authorized an incredible 38% increase to its quarterly dividend, raising it to 11 cents per share, or 1.7%. The dividend is payable on June 18 to shareholders of record on May 21.

This medical product manufacturer just reported profits of 47 cents per share, up from 42 cents per share, an increase of 12%, for the fiscal 2009 fourth quarter ended March 31, though revenue dropped by 8%. The huge increase in dividend payouts to $69.7 million a year is well-covered by its $156.7 million in operating cash flow. Its total debt amounts to $210 million, with $154 million in cash.

Steris is owned by Breeden Capital Management, a Connecticut-based activist money manager founded by Richard Breeden, who was head of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1989 to 1993. Other stocks that Breeden owns include H&R Block (HRB), with a 3.9% yield; Helmerich & Payne (HP), with a 0.6% yield; and Hillenbrand (HI), with a fairly high yield of 4.2%.

For more ideas, check out the Top Dividend-Increasers portfolio.

At the time of publication, the author had no positions in stocks mentioned.