It felt like the pace of dividend hikes was slowing down.  Wrong.  There were at least six big hikes today that came from the likes of ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE), Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX), Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), and Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL).

ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE) approved all matters submitted to the ACE Limited 2010 Annual General Meeting.  This included a 6.5% increase to its quarterly dividend to $1.32 annually ($0.33 per quarter) from $1.24.  This give the insurer and reinsurer a yield of 2.5%.

The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 cents per share, which is up a nickel or by 10%.  The household and consumer products company now has an implied dividend yield of 3.4%.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS) is one we already predicted this year that would hike the payout.  It did, and handsomely.  The quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share is up 67% and “follows the company’s attainment of its target capital structure.”  The new implied dividend yield will be 2.6%.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.47 per common share, a 9.3% from the previous $0.43 per share payout and is the seventh consecutive annual increase.  The implied dividend yield is now over 3.0%.

Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) announced that its board declared a regular quarterly cash dividend and approved a 20% increase from $0.10 per share to $0.12 each quarter per share.  The grocery chain now yields 2.0%.

Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) raised its quarterly dividend from $0.245 per share per quarter to a rate of $0.2525 per share per quarter.  The electric utility’s old annual payout of $0.98 will now be $1.01, and that in turn generates a dividend yield of about 4.75%.

The hikes keep coming.  Stay tuned for more dividend hike predictions… followed by more dividend hikes.

JON C. OGG

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