18 Monthly Paying Canadian Dividend Growers for 2020

What are your favorite monthly traditions? One of the best days of my month happens when I use the proceeds of loan repayments from my Kiva portfolio to put $25 toward funding another loan to an entrepreneur in need. Although it took me a little over a year to build toward this goal of funding a new loan through repayments each month, now the virtuous cycle keeps repeating with minimal effort on my part rather than the joy of selecting a worthy recipient.

Another of my favorite days of the month is the 15^th, when dividends from some of the companies below magically appear in my brokerage accounts.  When the 15th passed this month, it got me thinking that it was time to post the list of Canadian companies that pay growing monthly dividends for 2020. This has traditionally been one of my most read posts in 2019, 2018,  2017 and 2016. Using the Canadian Dividend All-Star list from December, 2019, I determined the monthly dividend growers for 2020.   To be included, companies had to pay a monthly dividend, increase their distribution at least once in the last 12 months, and have a minimum 5-year history of annually increasing their payouts.  The initial screen this year yielded 20 companies before I removed Inter Pipeline that had not raised their dividend since November 2018.  I then removed Boyd Group Income Fund due to their unimpressive 0.27% dividend yield, even though the company has an excellent record of compounded growth. Lastly, I noticed the one year dividend growth for the A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund was incorrect at 1.2%, so I fixed it to 11.2%. The remaining 18 monthly dividend growers were one more than the 17 in 2019 and 2018, down from 20 in 2017, but higher than only 12 in 2016.

The resulting 18 companies included nine 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 monthly dividend payers are included below.

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

- 20 of the 107 Canadian Dividend All-Stars at December 31 2019 pay dividends monthly.
- Although the average yield of all Canadian Dividend All-Stars of 3.37% is considerably less than the 18 monthly payers listed above (4.54%), the 1-year average dividend growth rate of 9.95% is significantly greater than that of the monthly payers (4.55%). 
- The average 3, 5, and 10-year dividend growth rates of the Canadian Dividend All-Stars of 10.74%, 10.37% and 10.36% are much greater than the comparable growth rates of the monthly payers 5.29%, 6.32%, and 5.99%. 

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 89.21%, although the trailing average P/E of 23.73X looks somewhat reasonable. As indicated on my Investment Holdings tab, I currently own four monthly paying Canadian Dividend All-Stars (A&W Revenue Royalties, Granite REIT, CT REIT and Canadian Apartment Properties). Of the remaining fifteen companies, Savaria is jumping off the page for me given their impressive dividend growth and reasonable 3.29% yield.  

If you're looking to create a virtuous cycle of re-investing monthly dividends, I think diversifying into some of the names above might be a good start. The psychological boost I get from holding a couple monthly dividend payers in my portfolio helps me on the 15th of each month to be a proud dividend growth investor!

Do you hold or are you interested in purchasing any of the 18 monthly payers?