20 Monthly Paying Canadian Dividend Growth Stocks for 2017

I decided to take a break from analyzing the individual companies on the Canadian Dividend All-Star list and revisit one of my more popular entries from 2016, the 12 Monthly Paying Canadian Dividend All-Stars.  Last year there were 12 Canadian companies that paid dividends monthly and had a minimum 5-year history of annually increasing their payouts.  The initial screen this year yielded 24 companies before I removed three organizations that had not raised their payout in the last 12-months (Corus Entertainment, Shaw Communications, and Alaris Royalty). I also removed Boyd Group Income Fund due to their unimpressive 0.6% dividend yield.

The resulting 20 companies included eight real estate investment trusts (REITs). As the payout ratios and valuations of REITs are usually calculated based on funds from operations (FFO) or adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), I decided to separate the resulting list in two so as not to confuse any casual readers. For your browsing pleasure, the resulting lists are included below.




Here are some quick comparisons between the monthly dividend payers and the complete list of Canadian Dividend All-Stars:

- 24 of the 101 Canadian Dividend All-Stars at January 31, 2016 pay dividends monthly.
- Although the average yield of all Canadian Dividend All-Stars of 3.33% is considerably less than the twenty monthly payers listed above (4.92%), the 1-year average dividend growth rate of 9.48% is significantly greater than that of the monthly payers (5.38%). 
- After removing any negative payout ratios and TTM P/Es, the respective averages for all Canadian Dividend All-Stars are reasonable at 68.19% vs. 113.20% for the twenty above and 24.08X vs 22.36X. 
- The average 3, 5, and 10-year dividend growth rates of the Canadian Dividend All-Stars of 10.87%, 12.36% and 10.04% are much greater than the comparable growth rates of the monthly payers 6.26%, 7.24%, and 4.42%. 

As with any other screen, the above list is simply a starting point for further research.  Clearly, a deeper dive is required given the average EPS payout ratio of 113% and the slightly high average trailing P/E of 22.4X valuation. As per my investment holdings tab, I currently own four monthly paying Canadian Dividend All-Stars (Granite REIT, Canadian Apartment Properties REIT, Enbridge Income Fund Holdings and Enercare Inc.). Of the remaining sixteen companies, I have owned Inter Pipeline in the past, and have Boston Pizza and Pizza Pizza on my current watch list. Admittedly, I find Altagas very interesting, but would likely wait to see if they can successfully add and integrate WGL Holdings before initiating a position. 

Do you hold or are you interested in purchasing any of the 20 monthly payers?