Consolidated Edison raises dividend 1.9% in 2022

Dividend Aristocrat Consolidated Edison (ED) will raise its quarterly dividend by 1.9 percent to 79 cents per share in 2022. This follows a dividend hike of 1.3 percent to $0.775 per share in 2021 and marks the utility company's 48th consecutive year of dividend increases.

The next ED dividend of $0.79 per share is payable March 15, 2022 to stockholders of record as of February 16, 2022, an annualized increase of 6 cents over the previous annualized dividend of $3.10 a share. Last year Dividend Aristocrat ED announced a 1.3 percent dividend increase.

"The 48th consecutive annual increase for stockholders, the longest period of consecutive annual dividend increases of any utility in the S&P 500 index, reflects our continued emphasis on providing a return to our investors while meeting the needs of our customers during the clean energy transition," said Robert Hoglund, Con Edison's senior vice president and chief financial officer. The company continues to target a dividend payout ratio of between 60% and 70% of its adjusted earnings.

The new annualized dividend rate of $3.16 per share will yield 3.85% to Consolidated Edison shareholders at a stock price of $82. The company will now pay an estimated $1.118 billion in dividends to shareholders annually.

Consolidated Edison, Inc. is one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy-delivery companies. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through the following subsidiaries: Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., a regulated utility providing electric, gas and steam service in New York City and Westchester County, New York; Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., a regulated utility serving customers in a 1,300-square-mile-area in southeastern New York State and northern New Jersey; Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, Inc., which through its subsidiaries develops, owns and operates renewable and energy infrastructure projects and provides energy-related products and services to wholesale and retail customers; and Con Edison Transmission, Inc., which through its subsidiaries invests in electric and natural gas transmission projects.