3M Dividend Hike To Pressure GE Dividend Hike (MMM, GE)

While we were getting ready to post our next round of large companies which we think will be hiking their dividends in 2010, one of the companies beat us to the punch.  Earlier this week we noted that General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is likely to revisit its dividend with a hike perhaps in the summer.  When it cut its dividend last year, 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) raised its dividend.  It was as if George Buckley was holding his finger up in the air in the 3M-GE rivalry.  It was actually just the company delivering on its trend.  Well, 3M just announced that it was hiking its dividend yet again…. for the fifty-second consecutive year.

3M raised its quarterly payout to $0.525 for the first quarter, up from the prior rate of $0.51 per quarter.  This now marks the company’s 374th consecutive quarterly dividend, and marks the 52nd year of dividend hikes.  As far as dividend coverage, 3M is expected to earn $5.66 EPS in 2010, and while that is non-GAAP the new annualized dividend is $2.10 per year.  The new dividend yield for the DJIA component is 2.66%.

George Buckley has plenty of more room to raise the dividend if he chooses.  This small raise would have likely been more had times not been so tough just a few quarters ago.  But one thing is for certain… If Jeff Immelt and Keith Sherin thought that they were not going to hear calls sooner and sooner to get that dividend back up, time is a luxury that probably just got a little shorter.

The pressure will be on GE to hike that dividend.  Here is the full list of companies we think will hike their dividends this year, with JPMorgan Chase and Dow Chemical being two of the ten companies.  And here is a list of large companies which just announced large dividend hikes in recent days.

JON C. OGG