The Top Dividend Stocks of the Week

More than a dozen companies increased their dividends during the holiday-shortened trading week, offering something for investors to really give thanks for. This is especially true since Freddie Mac(FRE Quote) warned that it may have to cut its dividend.

Stockpickr has reviewed the list of stocks that increased their dividends last week and compiled the Top 10 Dividend-Increasers for the Week.

The top stock on the list is natural gas distributor Southern Union(SUG Quote), which increased its annual dividend by 50% to 60 cents a share. Southern Union earlier this month reported outstanding third-quarter earnings of 34 cents a share vs. 6 cents a share a year ago. The stock has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 13.5, a P/E-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 2.3 and a yield of 2%.

Southern Union is in the portfolio of Baron Asset (BARAX), a four-star Morningstar-rated fund that has generated an average annual return of 16.8% over the last three years. Baron also owns Charles Schwab(SCHW Quote), which has a yield of 0.9%, CME Group(CME Quote), with a yield of 0.5%, and XTO Energy(XTO Quote), with a yield of 0.8%.

Another dividend-raiser last week was meat and food products company Hormel Foods(HRL Quote), which increased its annual dividend by 23% to 74 cents a share. Hormel also announced the largest profit-sharing distribution ever made to its employees, more than $15.5 million. This was the company's 69th consecutive year of profit-sharing distributions. The stock has a P/E of 17.4, a PEG of 1.9 and a 2% yield.

Hormel is owned by the SEI U.S. Managed Volatility Fund (SVOAX), which was up 15.2% in the latest year. SEI also contains in its portfolio Telephone & Data Systems(TDS Quote), with a yield of 0.6%, General Mills(GIS Quote), with a 2.8% yield, and Hillenbrand Industries(HB Quote), which pays out 2.2% in dividends.