Company Description
Hanson Brick is part of Hanson PLC (NYSE:HAN), an
international building materials company, with more than 28,000
employees and operations in 17 countries. Hanson PLC is the
largest producer of aggregates, the second largest producer of
pipe and the third largest producer of brick in the world.
[Source: Company Press Release]
Reasons to Invest:
This week I wanted to fine-tune my Drip of the Week search based upon dividend yields, price action and technical analysis. With that said, I am putting a huge emphasis on the actual dividend yield percentage. Hanson Plc (NYSE:HAN) is the perfect example
of a Drip candidate worthy of the DripAdvisor.com's limelight.
Hanson has been around for more than 20 years, and specializes in
making bricks, aggregates, and piping. On Monday March 1st, 2004
Hanson acquired Athens Brick for $40.4 million, of which they
paid cash for on a debt-free basis and is subject to usual post-
closing adjustments. The Athens plants are to be managed as part
of Hanson Brick's South Central Region, which would bring in a
combined output of facing brick in the area to 450 million across
eight plants. The President of Hanson Building Products America,
Richard Manning, said that "this transaction is part of Hanson's
strategy to enhance our existing strong market positions, and it
will make an immediate contribution to earnings." He went on to
say that the company is forecasting further growth in the future.
According to their income statements, HAN has a revenue growth
position of 14.40%, with a gross profit of 5.85 billion.
Revenues are approximately 6.63 billion. In regards to price
performance, HAN is ranked in the top 25% of its industry, with a
52-week change of 52.81%, or 16.89% relative to the S&P 500.
From a technical standpoint, HAN's chart looks phenomenal.
Hanson has been trending inside of a tightly wound regression
channel since the end of January 2003, testing the top bars of
the channel several more times than it has the bottom bars. On
the daily chart, HAN has just recently sparked a personal buy
signal as I note the simple 10-DMA over the 30-DMA. The MACD
indicator also shows signs of bullishness. The stochastics
indicator has HAN in overbought territory, but that's to be
expected since the stock has been in mostly bullish territory for
the past month.
HAN's weekly chart looks about as nice as it's daily chart.
However, the MACD is in bearish territory. I feel that the
bearish signal on the MACD is nothing to worry about, as the
stock is started to get a little overextended and may be due to
catch its breath for a few sessions. The 10-DMA is also over the
30-DMA on the weekly chart, and the stochastics indicator marks
HAN in neutral territory, which usually represents a sign of
lower risk for longer-term investors.
The weekly chart shows the 10-DMA over the 30-DMA, the MACD
indicator in bullish territory and the stochastics indicator
ready to spark a new bullish crossover, albeit it is in the
overbought range (but just barely).
As noted before, I see a low risk rating on new positions into
HAN's shares. While I think that the charts and news surrounding
HAN is all positive, and I more dumbfounded at how nice of a
dividend they yield. Hanson divvies out an annual dividend of
2.23 per share owned, which calculates out to a 5.60% yield.
That is not a typo! You read right! Hanson offers a 5.60
percent dividend yield. Furthermore, they are forecasting a
dividend percentage increase of 10.07 percent in the next year,
7.35 percent over the next three years, and 5.86 percent over the
next 5 years.
This ends another exciting episode of the DripAdvisor.com Drip of
the Week. Stay tuned next week, as we will spotlight another
stock worthy of the DripAdvisor.com limelight.
Until Next Week,
Nich Sheldon
Editor
Broker Recommendations
Strong Buy 1
Buy 1
Hold 0
Sell 1
Strong Sell 1
Brokers Covering 4
DRIP Information:
Shares to Qualify = 1
Auto-reinvestment = No
Accept Foreign Accounts: Yes
Temper Enrollment: Yes
Min/Max Investment = $50-$60,000/year
Reinvestment Fees -
Dividend investment fees: $0.06 per share
Cash investment fees: $2.50 + $0.06 per share
Auto reinvestment fees: N/A
Transfer Agent:
Citibank
800-422-2066
Corporate Headquarters:
1 Grosvenor Place
London, EN SW1X
Phone: (732) 919-2310
Fax: (732) 919-1149
Email: carolann.walsh@hansonplc.com
