Eaton Corp. (ETN) Purchased on 11/23/2016

From 2009 to 2015, Eaton Corp. (ETN) more than doubled its dividend, resulting in an annualized increase of over 14%.  So I purchased it around Thanksgiving 2015 at a good price, but was disappointed to see the dividend increase only 4% the following April.  It was that relatively low price where I purchased it that makes me feel pretty good about ETN, because it is up about 18% since then.

Is the dividend going to rise more slowly for ETN for the indefinite future?  There are no guarantees one way or the other, but dividend payments were actually held steady during two periods in this century:  from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2008 to 2009.  During the time period between 2002 and 2008, the dividend more than doubled at that time too.

Both of those times when the dividend was held at the same rate were around recessionary times that resulted in profits for ETN dropping temporarily, but each time, profits remained higher than dividend payments.  That lets me know that this may be a company that can weather the storm in the event of an economic downturn.  So my investment seems fairly sturdy for the long term.  But in the short term, I have it on my list of stocks to consider selling if something more interesting comes along.