Roberta... the dividend growth is for the preceding three years.

Here are the earnings per share and dividend for BAC for recent years

Year  Earnings Dividend  Payout Ratio
2005    4.04       1.90           47%
2006    4.59       2.12           46%
2007    3.30       2.40           73%
2008    loss       1.28 so far, 104%
2009    3.79       ?

This is a blip on the road... but I see a dividend cut coming.  I think historically BAC has kept their payout ratio near 50%... that leads one to a dividend cut from 0.64/share per quarter to 0.44/share per quarter.  A cut of 67% from today.

We will continue holding for a few more weeks.  I make most of the tough decisions on our portfolio every June.  This is when we rebalance and make decisions.  right now just thinking.  I was surprised to see that BAC had such a high payout ratio in relation to the other banks and with the Countrywide aquisition unkowns... I think that seals the deal... BAC will cut its dividend.

I considered moving our shares to the BAC preferred... but expect BAC will average much more than 8.2% annualized returns over the next five years.

Stats