According to the last list of Dividend Champions, Contenders and Challengers, compiled by the late David Fish, Cardinal Health (CAH) has managed to increase dividends for 21 years in a row. This track record is impressive, as there are only a couple of hundred companies in the US with this impressive record of annual dividend increases.

According to the Dividend Aristocrats Index, however, which is maintained by Standard & Poor’s, Cardinal Health has managed to grow dividends for 30 years in a row. 

This is an obvious disconnect. Just like with other disconnects, such as Altria and Abbott, I decided to research further in order to determine for myself the correct track record of annual dividend increases. This exercise was helpful in my monthly update process for the list of Dividend Champions that I post for my readers here.

The first step was to review press releases announcing dividend increases over the past decade, in an effort to determine what track record is being claimed by the company itself. Unfortunately, between 2007 and 2018, Cardinal Health has not stated what its track record of annual dividend increases really is.
The second step was to review the company’s dividend history using Cardinal Health’s Investor Relations website. I had to ensure I am properly adjusting for stock splits, stock dividends, and excluding one-time distributions. The dividend history was messy, as it appeared that dividends were being tracked by the company on an ex-dividend date basis, as opposed to how much actual cash per share was being distributed to shareholders. 

For example, the company shows total dividends in 2017 as $1.8361/share. 

Declared

Ex-Date

Record

Payable

Amount

11/8/2017

12/29/17 

    1/2/18 

1/15/18 

0.4624

8/9/2017

9/28/2017

10/2/2017

10/15/2017

0.4624

5/3/2017

6/29/2017

7/3/2017

7/15/2017

0.4624

2/2/2017

3/30/2017

4/3/2017

4/15/2017

0.4489

Total dividends in 2017:

1.8361