For Investors Only -- Nothing To Do With The Bakken -- November 18, 2015

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247WallStreet is suggesting we could see significant dividend increases in six well-known companies before year-end. This one caught my attention due to its recent  DirecTV acquisition:

AT&T Inc. is fresh off its DirecTV acquisition, and the opinion of 24/7 Wall St. long before the deal closed was that DirecTV actually would bring stronger dividend coverage. In October, the third-quarter earnings report noted that AT&T’s free cash flow dividend payout ratio was 57% year to date, improved from 67% in the second quarter. The company even increased its adjusted EPS and free cash flow outlook for the year to adjusted EPS in the $2.68 to $2.74 range and free cash flow in the $15 billion range or better. The corresponding dividend hike in prior years has been in mid-December, and 2014 was AT&T’s 31st straight annual hike, with a 2.2% payout hike.

Shares of AT&T were closed most recently at $33.26, with a consensus analyst price target of $36.96 and a 52-week trading range of $30.97 to $36.45. The company has a dividend yield of 5.8% and a market cap of $204 billion.

Almost 6% now. Since 2011 (that's all the farther I went back), ATT has raised its annual dividend by one penny each year.