The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) looks like it’s heading for a losing week this week, down 117 points to 6,531 so far. The index of top UK shares started the week uncertainly, but was depressed on Wednesday by the Bank of England’s negativity towards the pace of the UK’s economic recovery.
Share price gains aren’t the only way to make money from shares, however, and the FTSE offers an average forward dividend yield of a little over 3%, too. But which companies have contributed to it this week with rises? Here are three:
HSBC Holdings
Along with first-half results on Monday, HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA) (NYSE: HBC.US) announced a second interim dividend of 10 cents per share, up 11% from 9 cents at the same stage last year. The payment comes on top of an earlier 10 cents for the first quarter, and analysts are forecasting a full-year dividend of around 52 cents, or 34p, per share.
The HSBC share price has been erratic since the start of 2013, and is currently up around 25% over the past 12 months to 701p. On that price, the current forecast for a full-year dividend of 34p per share would provide a 4.9% yield, which is well ahead of the FTSE average.
Legal & General
Legal & General Group (LSE: LGEN) released first-half figures on Tuesday, and proposed a massive 22% rise in its interim dividend to 2.4p per share. That was made possible by a 13% rise in pre-tax profit to £592m and a 13% rise in earnings per share to 7.82p, with assets under management up to £433bn after net inflows of £8bn.
After a small reduction in the crunch year of 2009, Legal & General has lifted its dividend every year since — and with the shares currently priced at 199p, a similar 22% rise in the final dividend would provide a yield of 4.7%.
Meggitt
Engineer Meggitt (LSE: MGGT) is our third company with to lift its first-half dividend this week, this time bringing us a 10% rise to 3.95p per share, “reflecting ongoing confidence in our end markets“.
The Meggitt share price is up around 35% over the past year, to 542p, as the engineering sector is moving back into favour. Forecasts put the shares on a P/E of just over 14, and a 10% rise in the total dividend would yield 2.4% — not a massive yield, but a nice addition to that share price growth.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
