Most companies believe dividend investors occupy the fringe of their stakeholders and are not worthy of much attention. In short, most American corporations care more about what their customers think than what their shareholders think. In doing so, you miss a wonderful opportunity to attract and retain an incredibly loyal set of shareholders who take a much longer view of their holdings than do the hedge fund or money gunners.

Listen to the voices of investors who are looking for rising incomes and want to own companies they can count on for the long-term. Better yet, listen to your own heart. If a dear friend said they were looking for a great company with a great dividend, how would your stock stack up? Stop playing the shell game of stock buy backs and whack-a-mole quarterly earnings, and start playing the game where everybody wins: pay out as much of your free cash flows as you can in dividends. Seventy-nine million Americans will thank you, as will countless foundations, churches, colleges, and retirement plans.

Source: Rising Dividend Investing

Related Articles:

• Increasing Dividend Yield Part II: REITs
• The 2010 Dividend Aristocrats
• Dividend Stocks Secret Ingredient
• In Dividend Investing, Cash Is King
• Yield on Cost: Measuring for Success

Read More...

Summary only...

Where does one find a decent return on an investment these days? For millions of Baby Boomers contemplating retirement, it's more than a rhetorical question. A report by the Wall Street Journal shows the soon-to-retire generation, by and large, has not saved enough in their retirement accounts and has some catching up to do. Others who have put their money in certificates of deposit (CDs) are earning a paltry return. Those whose investment has been wrapped up in their homes have seen values decline 30 percent or more. For Americans who have accumulated savings, the million-dollar question is where to invest it.

Before investing in anything, it is wise to consult a financial advisor who is completely objective. In other words, an advisor who does not sell an investment product but only offers financial advice for a fee. One question to ask them is about dividend-producing blue chip stocks. Not all stocks pay a dividend, but many do. Paying a dividend is one way a company returns a portion of its profits directly to its shareholders. So, before a company can pay a dividend, it needs to be profitable.

Source: ConsumerAffairs.com

Related Articles:

• Who is Irving Kahn and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• Who Owns The Top Dividend Stocks?
• Rev-up Your Portfolio With Asset Allocation
• 17 Stocks With Room To Grow Their Dividend
• My Top 6 Performing Dividend Stocks Just Might Surprise You

Read More...

Summary only...

As much as everyone would like to find the next giant growth stock, I find myself promoting the same companies over and over because they carry very, very little risk over the long term. Now, there has been great debate as to how to put together a risk-free dividend portfolio, including all sorts of screening criteria and even the notion that price points are not important. However, it can be much simpler than that, especially if you are a younger investor, like myself.

Look for companies with a history of increasing dividends. A lot of companies did not have to cut or reduce their dividends during the recession giving credence to their stability and self-assurance. This information is readily available. Lastly, diversify your holdings.

Source: Seeking Alpha

Related Articles:

• Nucor Corp. (NUE): Forging A Different Path
• Seven Stingy Dividend Stocks
• Where To Find Great Dividend Stocks
• Why We Are Dividend Growth Investors
• 17 Stocks With Room To Grow Their Dividend

Read More...

Summary only...

There are some investors who are only interested in capital gains. However there are lots of others who like to invest in shares that will give them a solid regular income in the form of dividends. There are many dividend strategies you can use, but today I want to discuss a very simple, but effective strategy you can use.

Basically it involves using some kind of stock screener to find those companies that have long and established records of dividend growth. The reasoning being that if they have constantly grown their dividends every single year, even in adverse market conditions, then they are likely to continue growing their dividends by a similar amount in future years as well.

Source: CountingPips

Related Articles:

• Nucor Corp. (NUE): Forging A Different Path
• Seven Stingy Dividend Stocks
• Where To Find Great Dividend Stocks
• Why We Are Dividend Growth Investors
• 17 Stocks With Room To Grow Their Dividend

Read More...

Summary only...

Last week was another surprisingly strong one for dividend-increasers ; 38 stocks announced increases in their payouts to shareholders in the last week, falling just short of 2010 and 2011's record 43 increases just two weeks ago. The sheer number of dividend hikes is also significant because of which companies made the list; this latest group includes some of Wall Street's bigger names, an auspicious signal to income investors who're already enjoying a generous earnings season.

For the last few years, we've asserted that dividend-increasers are worth watching for a bevy of reasons, particularly in the current economy. And the statistics back up that claim. Over the last 36 years, dividend stocks outperformed the rest of the S&P 500 by 2.5% annually, and they outperformed nonpayers by nearly 8% every year, all while paying out cash to their shareholders, according to a study from NDR. And while that statistic applies to all companies that pay dividends, the companies that increase those dividend payouts over time are even better.

Source: The Street

Related Articles:

• Nucor Corp. (NUE): Forging A Different Path
• Seven Stingy Dividend Stocks
• Where To Find Great Dividend Stocks
• Why We Are Dividend Growth Investors
• 17 Stocks With Room To Grow Their Dividend

Read More...

Summary only...

Dividend-paying equities are traditionally thought of as being less volatile than other stocks, as their yields give them stability. Ironically, in recent months the expectations game has affected them even more than the rest of the market. One explanation is the now widespread use of stop-losses by conservative investors. These sell you out when a stock falls below a certain level. “Trailing” stops in particular have become very popular, as the stop price constantly ratchets up as the stock’s price rises.

More than a few income investors have fallen prey to the misconception that stop-losses will protect them against downside in their dividend-paying stocks, which they’ve grown progressively fearful of in an environment of rising prices. Unfortunately, setting a stop doesn’t guarantee a specific exit price. All it really does is assure you’ll be sold out if a certain price is breached. If there’s enough volume at a certain level, a relatively minor drop in a stock can quickly turn into a waterfall decline, as sell orders temporarily overwhelm the buyers. Your actual selling price can be well below your “stop” price.

Source: Investing Daily

Related Articles:

• 12 Dividend Stocks With A 5-Star Strong Buy Rating
• Five High-Yield Positive Return Investments
• High-Quality Low-Risk Dividend Stocks
• Who is Irving Kahn and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• Dividend Stocks vs. a Safe Distribution Rate

Read More...

Summary only...

Knowing which stocks pay dividends is important for retail as well as high net worth investors in the stock market. The best stocks with high dividends can help you earn superior profits and increase your net worth to a great extent. The stocks that pay the highest dividends are generally few in number and you need to understand the concept of dividends clearly before you get into these stocks. So, before we know of the best stocks for dividends 2011 or the high dividend stocks, let us get acquainted with the concept of dividends in the next section.

Best stocks for dividends 2011 would be from the banking and financial services sector along with automobiles, information technology and consumer goods sectors. Information technology stocks have been known to be good dividend payers over the years. This year, the increased earnings, rising turnover and profits may result into payment of good dividends to the shareholders. Banking and finance companies have deep pockets and common investors would be able to benefit a lot from their stocks.

Source: Buzzle.com

Related Articles:

• Who is Irving Kahn and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• 7 Investor Traits to Achieve Success
• Are REITs and Utilities Good Dividend Investments?
• 13 Dividend Stocks With A Good Yield/Growth Mix
• Managing Risk With Dividend Stocks

Read More...

Summary only...

Dividend investing is popular again. Investors have taken to heart Jeremy Siegel's studies, which show that higher-yielding stocks tend to offer greater returns over time than low- or no-yield stocks. The highest dividend yields can be very tantalizing. As long as a stock yielding 15% doesn't lose value, you'll make 15% in one year! In more cases than not, however, an astronomical yield is a bad sign for a stock. Since dividend yields and stock prices move in opposite directions, a high yield usually means that investors have begun to worry about the business and driven down its stock price.

However, certain types of companies such as REITs have to pay out most of their income as dividends, so their yields will be higher than "normal." Dividends are not guaranteed; you need to make sure that a business is generating enough cash to pay its dividend, or your investment could be disastrous.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• 11 Higher-Quality, High-Yield Dividend Stocks
• Is It Time To Sell Long-Bonds?
• To Infinity and Beyond!
• Dividend Stocks Are Getting Expensive
• Finding Dividend Stock Gems In An Overbought Market

Read More...

Summary only...

Many beginning investors do not understand what a dividend is, as it relates to an investment, particularly an individual stock or mutual fund. A dividend is simply a payment to shareholders, typically of a publicly traded company. A dividend payment is a payout of portion of a company's profit to eligible stockholders.

Dividends are really a discretionary distribution which a company's board of directors gives its current shareholders. It is typically a cash payout to investors at least once a year, but sometimes quarterly. Stocks and mutual funds that distribute dividends are likely on sound financial ground, but not always. Investors, however, should be aware of extremely high yields, since there is an inverse relationship between stock price and dividend yield and the distribution might not be sustainable. Also, stocks that pay dividends typically provide stability to a portfolio, but do not usually outperform high quality growth stocks.

Source: Investopedia

Related Articles:

• Four Dividend Stocks Stepping Up In The Downturn
• Bonds: The Next Bubble to Burst?
• Dividend Stocks vs. a Safe Distribution Rate
• Never Confuse Desires With Goals
• Increasing Dividend Yield Part I: Utilities

Read More...

Summary only...

They have been the income-producer of last resort for a year now, offering investors much better returns than the typical savings accounts or ho-hum dividend stocks. But with yields on high-yield bonds hitting historic lows, even pros in the business are starting to ask: should these bonds be a part of an investor's portfolio?

After a two-year, unprecedented bull run, the average yield on high-yield (or junk) bonds hit 6.8%, according to the Merrill Lynch High Yield Master II Index, marking a new low after a two-year unprecedented run for the riskiest corporate debt. Investor demand has pushed up the prices on high-yield bonds, which has caused yields to plummet. But compared to the rest of the fixed-income market, junk bonds still look appealing. The average yield on all investment grade corporate bonds is 4.9% and 10-year Treasury bonds are yielding just 3.6%, according to Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research.

Source: Market Watch

Related Articles:

• 12 Dividend Stocks For A Rainy Day
• Protecting Your Dollars With Foreign Currency
• Will ETFs Be The End Of Traditional Mutual Funds?
• We Were Dividends, Before Dividends Were Cool
• Are Defense Stocks Good Defensive Stocks?

Read More...

Summary only...

There's been a renaissance in dividend investing. Could this simply be because investors have been scared silly about two nasty stock market crashes in the past decade or so? Could be. But no matter what the reason is, I love it because it brings investing back to the basics -- that is, investing in companies that actually distribute part of their profits to you rather than speculating on something way out in the unknowable future.

One of the big questions for dividend investors is whether they should target big dividend yields or companies that reliably grow their dividends. I include both in my personal portfolio, but I've argued that high yielders may actually have an edge when it comes to total returns. So it doesn't seem far-fetched at all to expect a high-yield portfolio to beat the market.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• High-Quality Low-Risk Dividend Stocks
• In Dividend Investing, Cash Is King
• 7 Dividend Stocks For The Ultimate In Deferred Gratification
• 3 Styles Of Sucessful Dividend Investing
• 10 Under-Valued Dividend Stocks

Read More...

Summary only...

Stock prices have rallied more than 20% in the past 12 months, but it is still possible for investors to find bargains -- if they are willing to do a little research. Investing in underpriced stocks often requires patience, since the expectation is generally for a gradual rise in value. But sometimes these stocks attract the attention of corporate raiders and shoot up overnight. This recently happened with Clorox Corp. (NYSE: CLX). An investor group led by Carl Icahn determined Clorox was undervalued and purchased 9% of the outstanding stock, which resulted in surge of about 9% in Clorox's share price within two trading days. Before Icahn's investment, Clorox shares had been trading for 16 times trailing earnings and yielded more than 3%.

Beginning with a list of some 20 low P/E stocks, I ran a third screen, which narrowed the list further to stocks that also trade at a price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio discount to the S&P 500. PEG ratio measures a stock's value relative to its long-term growth prospects. The S&P 500 trades at a 1.6 PEG ratio, according to recent Thomson Reuters data. I also eliminated stocks trading above their book value as well as stocks that yield less than S&P 500, which currently yields close to 2%.

Source: Street Authority

Related Articles:

• Never Confuse Desires With Goals
• Nucor Corp. (NUE): Forging A Different Path
• 10 Stocks With 100+ Years of Dividend Payments
• Five Dividend Stocks To Buy On A Dip
• The 2011 Dividend Aristocrats

Read More...

Summary only...

In order to prudently answer the question of when to buy a stock, an investor first needs to know the value of the company behind the stock. At the most basic level, a company derives its value based on the fundamentals behind the business it operates. Focusing on, and calculating the fundamental value of a company, lies at the core that differentiates the investor from the speculator. Investors want to know what the business is worth, and where its value comes from past, present and future. Speculators, on the other hand, are mainly interested in the price of the stock and typically only concerned with its recent movement.

To us, the evidence is crystal clear, fundamentals provide a critical perspective that investors should be aware of. Possessing a clear and accurate picture of how well a business has performed on an operating basis is a vital component towards making sound and prudent investment decisions. Contrary to what some might argue, the fundamental operating results of the business tend to persist. The nature of a company's business and the industry it operates in can be reliably evaluated and understood.

Source: Seeking Alpha

Related Articles:

• Bogle Still Believes In Buy And Hold
• Seeding A Forest Of Dividend Stocks
• What Will Your Dividend Income Be When You Retire?
• 3 Simple Steps For A Successful Retirement
• 8 Dividend Stocks Covering Their Dividend

Read More...

Summary only...

What Walgreen may have lacked in terms of dividend yield -- it's rarely been above 2% since 2005 -- it's more than made up for in dividend growth. In January, it boosted its payout by 27.3%, marking 35 consecutive years of increased payouts. Nevertheless, past returns don't guarantee future results, so dividend history is only 10% of the final grade. Walgreen does, however, score a 5 of 5 in this category.

The company's stated dividend policy is to pay out between 30% and 35% of its profit. That's meaningfully above the roughly 20% average payout over the past four years, so Walgreen may fuel future dividend growth by paying out a larger percentage of profit.With its current yield at 1.7%, Walgreen's dividend is above this peer group, but is in-line with the S&P 500 average yield of 1.7%.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• Who is Charles Mangum and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• Should You Still Buy-And-Hold Stocks?
• 20 Dividend Stocks With A 20% Yield In 20 Years
• 11 Low Beta, High Quality Dividend Stocks
• 8 Dividend Stocks With Above Market Performance

Read More...

Summary only...

Economists have been saying for the last few years that Japan has been stagnating, and many of those economists believe that the United States is turning into another Japan. But maybe, just maybe, there may be a turn-around in the 'Land of the Rising Sun'. After all, the iShares MSCI Japan Index (EWJ) is up 20.8% since July 1 of last year.

Japan has the third largest economy in the world based on gross domestic product for purchasing power parity and nominal GDP. Three quarters of the GDP comes from the service sector. The country's unemployment rate is 5.1%. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the largest exchange in the world outside of the United States. There are over 15 different Japanese companies that trade on American stock exchanges, according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. The Tokyo based Canon Inc. (CAJ) and Toyota Motor Corp. (TM).

Source: Seeking Alpha

Related Articles:

• High Yield, High Risk Dividend Stocks
• High-Quality Low-Risk Dividend Stocks
• The 2010 Dividend Aristocrats
• Passing the Torch - Part 1 of 2
• 10 Stocks With 100+ Years of Dividend Payments

Read More...

Summary only...

Whether you are thinking about retiring or simply just want to add some income producing stocks to your investment strategy, high dividend paying equities can make a great addition to your portfolio. Unless investors are willing to purchasing high yielding European debt or even risky master limited partnership units, North American fixed income securities do not offer high enough payment stream to attract every investor away from equities.

2009 and 2010 gave rise to many "accidental high yielders", stocks which retained their payout ratios, but their yields were artificially inflated due to the decline in stock price. Overall, the market has shown tremendous gains over the past two years, and despite still being slightly below pre-recession levels, many companies are once again trading at their fair value. As a result, the investment landscape has drastically changed as dividend yields are no longer misleading.

Source: Investopedia

Related Articles:

• 8 Dividend Stocks With Above Market Performance
• Are REITs and Utilities Good Dividend Investments?
• All Investing Involves Risk
• What Determines A Dividend Stock's Yield
• Who Owns The Top Dividend Stocks?

Read More...

Summary only...

We're continuing 2011's trend for dividend performance in the past week, with 35 companies announcing increases in their payouts to shareholders. While that doesn't quite meet up to the 43 dividend increases we saw the previous week, it's important to remember that last week's number was the biggest instance of dividend increases in more than a year. If anything, the fact that dividends continue to be on the rise is an auspicious signal for investors because it suggests that companies are becoming confident enough in the current economic situation to part with their precious cash.

For income investors, that suggests an even bigger trend is in the works. History shows that when dividends rise, investors should pay attention. Over the last 36 years, dividend stocks outperformed the rest of the S&P 500 by 2.5% annually, and they outperformed nonpayers by nearly 8% every year, all while paying out cash to their shareholders, according to a study from NDR. And while that statistic applies to all companies that pay dividends, the companies that increase those dividend payouts over time are even better.

Source: The Street

Related Articles:

• Is Now The Right Time To Start Investing?
• We Were Dividends, Before Dividends Were Cool
• What Determines A Dividend Stock's Yield
• High-Yield Dividend Stocks: A Safer Approach
• Are ETFs and CEFs Good Income Investments?

Read More...

Summary only...

Dividends, the portion of profits that corporations opt to pay directly to shareholders on a regular basis rather than reinvest back into the company--are the icing on an equity investment. Individuals, whether still working or already retired, who are looking for a steady, reliable way to add to existing income should pay special attention to dividend paying stocks or exchange traded funds (ETFs).

To help readers better navigate the dividend universe, we’ve compiled a Dividend Investing Primer, a comprehensive series of articles written by some of our savviest contributors on the subject. The articles, arranged by topic, offer information suitable for everyone from the novice to seasoned investors interested in maximizing their holdings.

Source: Seeking Alpha

Related Articles:

• Five Stocks With A Low Dividend Payout Ratio
• 3 High-Yield Telecom Dividend Stocks
• The 2010 Elite Dividend Stocks List
• Five Stocks With A Low Debt To Total Capital
• Where To Find Great Dividend Stocks

Read More...

Summary only...

When deciding on investment avenues in equities, most investors think in terms of what income will come only by way of capital appreciation. Seldom do they think that there are a lot of good companies that have been paying handsome dividends annually.

Dividends are payments by a company to its shareholders given out of the profits it makes. It is calculated as a percentage or absolute value per share. Not all companies pay dividends. Some plough it back into business, to generate returns in the future. Others don’t pay due to cash flow requirements. But even after having attained scale capabilities, some capital expenditure-intensive companies do not pay dividend or don’t pay good dividend, as they have to retain cash for their own requirement. India’s largest telecommunication company, Bharti Airtel, had huge capital expenditure in the past few years, so it paid negligible dividends to the shareholders.

Source: Business Standard

Related Articles:

• Income Annuities vs. Dividend Stocks
• Who is David Dodd and Why Should We Listen to Him
• Seven Stingy Dividend Stocks
• What Will Your Dividend Income Be When You Retire?
• How To Buy Dividend Stocks At The Bottom

Read More...

Summary only...

One of the best ways to invest in foreign markets is through American Depository Receipts ADRs. ADRs provide convenience in terms of trading and reporting of those trades to the IRS. The transaction costs are also much lower than they’d be when buying through local exchanges. You don’t have to worry about the huge spread most banks charge when converting U.S. dollars to the stocks’ local currency. These benefits are visible when trading in emerging markets’ stocks.

Insider Monkey likes investing in emerging markets for three reasons. First, they are usually cheaper than are U.S. stocks based on current P/E ratios. Second, their GDPs grow faster. Third, their currencies are usually undervalued, and they will eventually catch up with the U.S. dollar. For short term investors, emerging markets may be very volatile and losses will be exaggerated during market declines. However, long term investors with diversified portfolios can protect themselves from dollar inflation and benefit from emerging markets’ higher growth rates.

Source: Wall St Cheat Sheet

Related Articles:

• Passing the Torch - Part 1 of 2
• Five High-Yield Positive Return Investments
• Is It Time To Sell Long-Bonds?
• Five Stocks With A Low Dividend Payout Ratio
• Five Aristocrats That Have Been There Before

Read More...

Summary only...

There's a hot debate going on at The Motley Fool, and Fools are putting real money where their mouths are. We have been debating which is better: high-yield stocks or high dividend-growth stocks (nerds!). My colleague Jeremy Phillips has gone so far as to invest $10,000 in his Outstanding Dividend Portfolio, saying, "I believe dividend growth, much more than current yield, is critical to a successful dividend portfolio." I'm on the other side with our senior retail analyst Jim Royal and firmly believe high yield beats high growth.

I'm so convinced that I'm also going to put real money behind my conviction. On Feb. 21, I'll be investing $10,000 of my retirement portfolio into 10 high-yield stocks and promise not to sell them for a full year. Today, I'll tell you why I believe in high-yield dividends and give you my 10 stock picks. Evidence compiled by Tweedy Browne shows that portfolios of high-yield dividend stocks outperform lower yielding portfolios and the market in general. In fact, a study by noted finance professor Jeremy Siegel found that over 45 years, the highest yielding 20% of S&P 500 stocks outperformed the S&P 500 by three times! The highest-yielding stocks turned a $1,000 investment in 1957 into $462,750 by 2002, compared with $130,768 if the same money was invested in the index.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• Who is Irving Kahn and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• Bogle Still Believes In Buy And Hold
• Dividend Stocks Secret Ingredient
• Who is Charles Mangum and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• The Most Important Financial Statement

Read More...

Summary only...

The following is a list of high yield dividend stocks. Additionally, all of these stocks have low levels of risk, as defined by the RiskGrade ratings developed by the RiskMetrics Group. RiskGrades is calibrated to be more intuitive and easier to use than standard deviation or beta. According to the company, their rating system captures all the components of market risk: equity, interest rate, currency, and commodity risk.

The lower the RiskGrade rating, the lower the risk level of the stock. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PHI), the first company in our list, has a RiskGrade rating of 76, which means that it is less risky than 87% of tickers on U.S. markets. As a result, this list might be the perfect starting point to a dividend investor with a relatively conservative risk profile for their portfolio. Full details below. RiskGrades sourced from RiskMetrics group, dividend yield and short float data sourced from Finviz.

Source: NASDAQ

Related Articles:

• High-Yield Dividend Stocks: A Safer Approach
• Where To Find Great Dividend Stocks
• Nucor Corp. (NUE): Forging A Different Path
• Dividend Stocks Secret Ingredient
• Building Yield: 15 Consumer Goods Dividend Stocks

Read More...

Summary only...

Analysts at FBR Capital on Friday passed along some interesting opinions regarding real estate-related investment manager Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY) on Friday. Although the firm maintained its “Outperform” rating and $20 price target on NLY, it noted a dividend cut could be in the works for the company.

An FBR analyst commented, “We reiterate our rating and price target on NLY shares despite last week’s weaker-than-expected 4Q10 earnings results. While the results give us pause as to the viability of the current dividend, we believe that shares remain attractive from a long-term, risk-adjusted total return perspective. With a historically steep yield curve, the FOMC estimated to be on hold for at least another year, and declining prepayment speeds, we continue to believe that the operating environment is set up for NLY to deliver mid-to-high teen ROEs, and likewise dividend yields, for the foreseeable future.”

Source: Forbes

Related Articles:

• International Diversification Begins At Home
• Optimizing Your Asset Allocation
• 12 Dividend Stocks For A Rainy Day
• Underfunded Pension Plans: The Next Shoe To Drop?
• A Winning Investment Strategy

Read More...

Summary only...

Dividend stocks have outperformed nondividend paying stocks since 1972. However, the companies that had provided the best track records in paying and increasing their dividends have either been acquired, stopped raising dividends or in some cases even eliminated them. Given that a large number of baby boomers are set to retire in the next few years with definite income needs, I believe that the demand and supply of dividend paying stocks will only increase.

But the last few years of turmoil have shaken the confidence of many dividend believers. In the S&P 500 Index about 370 stocks pay dividends at any given time. In 2009, those dividends declined by 20 percent. That's on top of a 35 percent sell-off in stock prices in 2008. For those dividend investors living on the income generated from their portfolios, this double whammy was devastating. A great many investors finally threw in the towel, sold out and moved to the sidelines in the beginning of 2009. In hindsight, that was the wrong move. Even today a lot of those investors have not re-entered the market.

Source: iBerkshires

Related Articles:

• 7 Low-Debt High-Rated Dividend Stocks
• Who is Raul Alvarez and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• 9 High-Yield Managed Distribution Policy Funds
• Who is Charles Mangum and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• Dividend Stocks Poised To Beat Inflation

Read More...

Summary only...

Yum! Brands has only paid a dividend since 2004, but it's increased its payout each year -- and at a very high rate, to boot. It's a very encouraging, albeit brief, track record.Nevertheless, past returns don't guarantee future results, so dividend history is only 10% of the final grade. Yum! does, however, score a 5 of 5 in this category. Even though Yum! has increased its dividend quickly, it has wisely not paid out more than it could afford.

At first glance, the company appears to have a strong balance sheet, but its credit ratings --- i.e., BBB+ at Morningstar, BBB- at Standard & Poor's -- while undeniably investment-grade aren't immaculate, either. Morningstar, for example, said that the company's off-balance sheet operating leases (a common thing for retailers and restaurants) added to the company's overall obligations and reduced the operating profit coverage of those obligations. Even if we downgraded Yum! Brands' balance sheet score to a "3" to account for operating leases, it would still score an "A-." Bottom line: the dividend looks quite healthy.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• 20 Dividend Stocks With A 20% Yield In 20 Years
• 7 Investor Traits to Achieve Success
• 11 Higher-Quality, High-Yield Dividend Stocks
• 6 Dividend Stocks That Will Make You Smile
• Six Great Dividend Stocks, But...

Read More...

Summary only...

You'll find that the stocks below are sporting some pretty nice dividends, but don't just dive into one of the stocks listed below without doing first the necessary due diligence required. With the recent market rally, a lot of dividends have been diluted due to price appreciation, so the best strategy going forward is to watch these stocks and wait for a pullback in the ones that you are targeting specifically before putting any capital to work.

On a side note, I would say this particular stock screen elicits a lot of controversy about the quality of the dividends, and whether they are dependable. I realize that not all of these companies are going to be able to keep the high dividend that they are paying out - I'm just trying to give you some ideas for you to generate fixed incomes in a bad economy. I can tell you this though, stocks such as NLY are fairly good divi-plays and make for a great covered-call strategy.

Source: SharePlanner

Related Articles:

• Dividend Investing in a Bear Market
• Increasing Dividend Yield Part II: REITs
• Focus On Stocks, Not The Market
• 10 Stocks With Sustainable Dividend Growth
• 5 Lessons Learned About Investing

Read More...

Summary only...

Starting with a list of banks that increased their dividends during the fourth quarter, TheStreet has isolated the ones paying the most to investors, along with discussing three well-known bank dividend stocks. Most of the five banks we're focusing on earned enough in the fourth quarter to comfortably support additional dividend increases and none of the banks owed bailout funds to the government, but only one - the thinly-traded Norwood Financial (NWFL) appears to be a bargain at current prices.

For an investor seeking a steady dividend, it's important to consider the direction of a bank's earnings performance at this point in the credit cycle, and whether they currently earn enough to comfortably support the dividend, or can reasonably be expected to do so in the near future. Three of the most familiar names to dividend-seeking in bank stock investors didn't raise dividends recently, but feature yields that are competitive with the highest yield among the group that raised dividends in Q4.

Source: The Street

Related Articles:

• 5 Dividend Stocks Trading Below Fair Value
• Dividend Stocks Are My Conviction
• 8 Dividend Stocks With The Right Stuff
• 9 High-Yield Managed Distribution Policy Funds
• When Is A Lot of Cash A Bad Thing?

Read More...

Summary only...

Last week, I presented a "crazy-simple" dividend-investing strategy called the 10-10 Formula. I wrote favorably about the two-step test for screening for dividend-growth stocks: 1.) Seek out stocks that have raised dividends for a minimum of 10 consecutive years, and 2.) Increased those dividends by an average of 10% or more per year for a decade

A dividend portfolio shouldn't be rigid. You'll want high yielders, fast-growing yielders, international dividend stocks, and alternative yielders (e.g., REITs, BDCs, MLPs). Nonetheless, today I wanted to share the best of both worlds. I'm calling these three stocks "sneaky-good," because they have current yields close to double the yield of the SPDRs (NYSE: SPY) S&P 500 tracker (about 1.7%), and they're growing those payouts quickly, with each sporting a 10-year compound annual dividend growth rate exceeding 10%. On top of that, each has a history of raising dividends.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• The 2010 Elite Dividend Stocks List
• Who is Ben Grossbaum and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• 21 Suggestions for Success
• Are ETFs and CEFs Good Income Investments?
• Yield on Cost: Measuring for Success

Read More...

Summary only...

Value investing is buying stocks that are perceived as being worth more than what you pay for them.[1] Stocks are valued most commonly by the net tangible assets of the companies they represent, earnings per share, and dividends they pay. Thus, a value investor would favor those stocks that have low price/book ratio, low price/earnings ratio, and high dividend yield.

However, it would be dangerous to go out and buy any stock that meet these criteria, as a stock that appears cheap may in fact be on the brink of bankruptcy and not a bargain at all, despite the figures. Sorting out between the true bargains and the false bargains, or value traps, is not easy. Here are some things to look for that may help you to make the distinction with caution.

Source: wikiHow

Related Articles:

• Are ETFs and CEFs Good Income Investments?
• Rev-up Your Portfolio With Asset Allocation
• Five High-Yield Positive Return Investments
• Seven Important Reasons for Dividend Investing
• The Best Dividend Stocks In The World

Read More...

Summary only...

In this series, we analyze financial metrics to begin answering the following questions about a company's dividend: 1. Over time, has this company steadily increased its payouts?, 2. How sustainable is the dividend? and 3. Does the company have room to further increase the dividend? Today's pupil is Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL), which posts a 2.8% yield.

Colgate-Palmolive has paid uninterrupted dividends since 1895. How's that for a dividend history? Over the past five years, it has continued its commitment to dividends by raising its payout broadly in line with earnings-per-share growth. A score of "B" is very good, but it's below Colgate-Palmolive's previous years' scores of "A" in 2009 and "B+" in 2007 and 2008. The reason is that free cash flow to equity has decreased slightly, but it can be a volatile data point, so for now there isn't a major reason for concern.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• High-Yield Dividend Stocks: A Safer Approach
• 21 Suggestions for Success
• 10 Stocks With Sustainable Dividend Growth
• Yield on Cost: Measuring for Success
• Six Great Dividend Stocks, But...

Read More...

Summary only...

In the investment community, the Standard and Poors 500 Index (S&P 500) is the most common benchmark representing the stock market as a whole. This is why S&P 500 Index funds are a favorite among passive ETF investors. Unfortunately, the S&P 500 as a whole has a low dividend yield (under 2%). Therefore, if you are an income investor who is counting on a reliable stream of dividend payments, the S&P 500's low yield might not be a good core holding for you.

However, if you sift through the index's 500 component stocks, you will notice that a number of them are high-yielding, consistent dividend payers. Furthermore, for the more risk-averse, there also a number of blue chips in the index with solid dividend yields.

Source: Investopedia

Related Articles:

• We Were Dividends, Before Dividends Were Cool
• 11 Higher-Quality, High-Yield Dividend Stocks
• 9 High-Yield Managed Distribution Policy Funds
• Dividend Investing in a Bear Market
• Four Stocks With Strong Dividend Growth Metrics

Read More...

Summary only...

Many people automatically assume that investing in dividend stocks is a guaranteed way of making money, particularly if you invest in those with high payouts of between 5% and 10%, for example. However this is not really true at all.If you are investing for say 10 or 20 years, then you could argue that the timing of your buys is not necessarily that important. That’s because by earning say 5% every year from your dividend stocks, these payments will more than compensate for any flat or slightly negative share price movement. This is particularly true if you reinvest the proceeds each year.

However if you don’t intend to hold on to these stocks for as long as this, then you need to place more importance on when you actually buy because it can make a huge difference. Assuming that a company is likely to continue paying decent dividends each year, you should ideally invest in these companies when the share price is temporarily oversold. Another way you can lose money is if you look for income-generating stocks from amongst the small and mid-cap companies. While some of these companies offer some very attractive yields, they are a lot riskier because their futures are a lot less secure than many of the large-cap stocks. If they run into difficulties, they could easily reduce the dividend or scrap it altogether.

Source: Counting Pips

Related Articles:

• 7 Dividend Stocks To Slay The Wall Street Giants
• Charlie Munger's 10 Rules for Investment Success
• Three Dividend Stocks With A Perfect Risk Score
• 21 Suggestions for Success
• Five Dividend Stocks To Buy On A Dip

Read More...

Summary only...

Investors of stocks that pay a dividend might notice higher amounts on upcoming checks as more companies have said in recent weeks that they will raise those payments, a sign of healthier companies with stronger profits.

"It means companies are doing exactly what they set out to do," said Will Rogers, an Ameriprise financial planner in Evans. "The only reason you give a company money is you hope at some point in the future to get it back in company profits." Dividends are a portion of profits that are returned to shareholders, usually through quarterly checks. Bigger payments can put smiles on the faces of investors who counted on that money.

Source: The Augusta Chronicle

Related Articles:

• Dividend Stocks: Confident and Secure
• 7 Low-Debt High-Rated Dividend Stocks
• When Is A Lot of Cash A Bad Thing?
• When To Sell A Dividend Stock
• Increasing Dividend Yield Part IV: Bonds

Read More...

Summary only...

Generally, I’m skeptical of investment strategies that try to out-guess market professionals or rely on a “greater fool” to pay more for an asset of questionable value. As for options, I’ve known many investors who use them very successfully to leverage their gains, protect against potential losses and increase income. I know many more who got in over their heads and lost their shirts, despite being convinced they weren’t taking much if any risk. Can you explain to me and my readers--also primarily conservative, income-oriented buy-and-holders--what an option is and how using them can help our approach to the market?

Options are wonderful and flexible tools that can be used by stock investors to reduce risk and enhance returns. For conservative investors, I don’t recommend purchasing options. Rather, I recommend selling options to complement--not replace--their buy-and-hold stock portfolio. All of the risks associated with buying options are eliminated--and reversed--for the option seller. Option sellers actually benefit if the option expires worthless. They get paid up front in cash and earn extra income. This extra income actually reduces the risk of stock ownership. Imagine that: Options can actually reduce risk.

Source: Investing Daily

Related Articles:

• Managing Risk With Dividend Stocks
• Retirement Planning With A Defined-Benefit Pension
• 10 Stocks With Sustainable Dividend Growth
• Low-Debt Dividend Stocks
• Is Now The Right Time To Start Investing?

Read More...

Summary only...

Dividend stocks have helped millions of investors earn healthy income and beat the market over the long haul. But if you think you can only get the best dividend stocks by staying close to home, think again. Some of the most promising dividend stocks you'll ever find are foreign companies, and if you dismiss them out of hand, your portfolio could suffer.

All around the world, stock investors want the same things from their investments. They want share prices to rise over time, and they want to receive cash in the form of dividends to supplement their income. It doesn't matter whether a company's located in New Jersey or New Zealand; as long as a stock delivers the goods, profit-hungry investors should be happy with the results. Broadening your dividend-seeking horizons to look abroad may take a little more work, but it can have a big effect on your investing results. Whether you buy individual stocks or use an ETF, foreign dividend payers are worth the extra effort.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• 9 High-Yield Managed Distribution Policy Funds
• Stocks That Pay Monthly Dividends
• 13 Dividend Stocks With A Good Yield/Growth Mix
• To Infinity and Beyond!
• 7 Investor Traits to Achieve Success

Read More...

Summary only...

Bill Gross is an incredibly insightful and talented fixed-income manager and strategist. He could have just as easily titled his latest commentary to be "Pick Your Poison." According to the newsletter, Gross hopes to be able to achieve a 4% to 5% taxable rate of return this year by taking credit and currency risk (corporate and emerging market risk) and avoiding duration (interest rate risk).

It will be difficult for fixed-income investors to make any reasonable rates of return this year (and perhaps for the foreseeable future) if rates begin a secular trend toward higher yields. This makes life for investors difficult trying to find "safe" returns (ask anyone who has held a municipal bond since November how "safe" they feel), and it effectively forces all investors to embrace some type of risk if they hope to achieve a rate of return from what used to be considered their "safety net".

Source: The Street

Related Articles:

• When To Sell A Dividend Stock
• When Is A Lot of Cash A Bad Thing?
• What Will Your Dividend Income Be When You Retire?
• Dividend Stocks Secret Ingredient
• What Determines A Dividend Stock's Yield

Read More...

Summary only...

The stock market has capped the best January for stocks since 1997, and strong retail sales and hints of improvements in the job and housing markets are making it look like 2011 is going to be a good year for investors. But after all the uncertainty of the past few years, many investors are reluctant to jump in with both feet. Safe-haven investments like gold and high-yield dividend stocks remain in favor because some folks are afraid the recovery will stall, while others are downright expecting the bottom to fall out.

Whether you’re bullish or bearish on stocks in 2011, a guaranteed payday of 4%, 5% or even 6% via dividends is a great way to provide stability to your portfolio. And when you’re looking for the top dividend stocks, the blue chips in the Dow Jones Industrial average have a lot to offer. Here are a few dividend stocks boasting the highest yield among the Dow components that income investors may want to consider: AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), Merck (MRK), Pfizer (PFE) and Kraft Foods (KFT).

Source: InvestorPlace

Related Articles:

• Six Great Dividend Stocks, But...
• 13 Dividend Stocks With A Good Yield/Growth Mix
• Top 10 Articles For 2010
• Who is Charles Mangum and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• 10 Stocks With 100+ Years of Dividend Payments

Read More...

Summary only...

Finding undervalued dividend paying stocks in this ongoing rally can be very challenging, to say the least. If you're looking for Basic Materials dividend stocks with good earnings growth, ConocoPhillips (COP) is worth a look.

COP just reported Q4 and full year 2010 earnings, and they blew away last year's earnings and sales - Q4 sales up 23%, Q4 adjusted net income up 10%, Full year 2010 sales up 27%, and Full Year adjusted net income up 80%.

Source: Seeking Alpha

Related Articles:

• 7 Low-Debt High-Rated Dividend Stocks
• Retirement Planning With A Defined-Benefit Pension
• 12 Dividend Stocks With A 5-Star Strong Buy Rating
• 7 Dividend Stocks To Slay The Wall Street Giants
• Dividend Investing in a Bear Market

Read More...

Summary only...

Smart investors are finding new high-yield investments within industries that pay out yields in excess of 8% as a result of passing through higher profits from strong operations. The investments you can purchase in today’s market are by design pass-through securities, meaning they pass through 80%-90% of all net income to shareholders in the form of dividends and distributions.

Investments in closed-end funds, master limited partnerships and REITs that are raising their payouts because business conditions are strengthening, not because they are leveraged to the eyeballs like the companies financed by junk bonds or bad mortgage debt.

Source: InvestorPlace

Related Articles:

• 7 Low-Debt High-Rated Dividend Stocks
• Retirement Planning With A Defined-Benefit Pension
• 12 Dividend Stocks With A 5-Star Strong Buy Rating
• 7 Dividend Stocks To Slay The Wall Street Giants
• Dividend Investing in a Bear Market

Read More...

Summary only...

One of the main characteristics of quality dividend stocks is that they have a strong brand name. Strong brand by itself would not provide the type of consistent long-term returns that dividend growth investors expect. Add in a wide economic moat, or a strong competitive advantage, which ensures strong pricing power and the qualitative screen for selecting stocks is complete.

Another important characteristic for selecting quality dividend stocks is a history of consistently growing distributions. I like it when a company pays a stable dividends, but I really prefer a company that manages to surprise me by repeatedly raising distributions for many years. This is what truly separates the best companies from the mediocre ones. After all, any company can manage to pay a dividend, but only the best ones with the widest economic moats can afford to grow distributions for many years.

Source: InvestorPlace

Related Articles:

• Five Stocks With A Low Dividend Payout Ratio
• Dividend Stocks: Three Keys For Successful Investing
• Underfunded Pension Plans: The Next Shoe To Drop?
• 8 Dividend Stocks With Above Market Performance
• Managing Risk With Dividend Stocks

Read More...

Summary only...

MarketBeat pal Howard Silverblatt — the high priest of the S&P 500-stock index — has cobbled together yet another helpful dividend screen. Here’s dividend data as of the close of trading Monday, Jan. 31. Silverblatt writes: The list below consists of S&P 1,500 issues that have paid increasing annual cash dividends for the past ten years, have an actual 2009 dividend coverage rate of at least 2, and have 2010 and 2011 dividend coverage rates of at least two based on street estimates. This list not a buy list, but a starting point for dividend investors, based on screened historical data.

Silverblatt’s “coverage rate” represents his attempt to capture a sense of dividend sustainability. Simply put, this is a formula that plots earnings per share versus dividend payouts, and the minimum level of coverage to make this list is 2.0. So for example if a company pays out $1.00 in dividends, it has to make at least $2.00 in earnings per share. “They’re still making enough to significantly cover their dividends and have some cash left over,” Silverblatt has told us of the coverage rate. So, the stocks in this list have a dividend coverage rate of at least 2.0 for 2009, and an estimated coverage rate of at least 2.0 for both 2010 and 2011.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Related Articles:

• Dividend Stocks Are My Conviction
• Nucor Corp. (NUE): Forging A Different Path
• The Next Great Company
• Increasing Dividend Yield Part IV: Bonds
• Dividend Stocks: Confident and Secure

Read More...

Summary only...

In 2008, I re-tooled an existing aimless portfolio to become a focused dividend-growth portfolio. When I retooled the portfolio, I gave it a great name (Dividend Growth Portfolio) and used the e-book as a guide not only to what stocks to select but also to how to manage the portfolio. I created a strategy document and set of rules to govern the portfolio.

The Dividend Growth Portfolio's purpose is to demonstrate the results that can be achieved by following sound dividend-growth investing principles. I consider it in many ways to be a typical portfolio of its type. It is not a hypothetical, model, or back-tested portfolio. It is real, reflecting decisions made in real time..

Source: Seeking Alpha

Related Articles:

• Dividend Payout vs. Free Cash Flow Payout
• Are REITs and Utilities Good Dividend Investments?
• Increasing Dividend Yield Part II: REITs
• Best Stocks for 2011
• Four Stocks With Strong Dividend Growth Metrics

Read More...

Summary only...

Dividend investing is popular again. Investors have taken to heart Jeremy Siegel's studies, which show that higher-yielding stocks tend to offer greater returns over time than low- or no-yield stocks. The highest dividend yields can be very tantalizing. As long as a stock yielding 15% doesn't lose value, you'll make 15% in one year! In more cases than not, however, an astronomical yield is a bad sign for a stock. Since dividend yields and stock prices move in opposite directions, a high yield usually means that investors have begun to worry about the business, and driven down its stock price.

Most real-estate companies are organized as real-estate investment trusts. They do this so that they can get around the double taxation issue that most investors face. REITs don't pay taxes as long as they distribute at least 90% of their income as dividends. The investor holding shares of the REIT then has to pay taxes on those dividends as though they are income. This differs from most dividends which are taxed at a lower rate. Dividends are not guaranteed; you need to make sure that a business is generating enough cash to pay its dividend, or your investment could be disastrous.

Source: Motley Fool

Related Articles:

• Protecting Your Dollars With Foreign Currency
• Who is Charles Mangum and Why Should We Listen to Him?
• Bonds: The Next Bubble to Burst?
• My Top 6 Performing Dividend Stocks Just Might Surprise You
• Passing the Torch - Part 1 of 2

Read More...

Summary only...

The S&P 500 is now up a whopping 90% from its March 2009 low. After the last snarling bear market (2000–2002), it took the index 54 months to achieve the gains it has racked up in just 22 months this time. To make the most of the remaining upside in the current cycle, investors should follow some simple stock dividend advice. Every investment you purchase from this moment on should deliver some sort of immediate cash return. We’re past the stage when you could safely buy depressed assets for their rebound potential alone, regardless of whether they produce any income.

Obviously, you want to make sure the payouts of the dividend stocks you buy are sustainable under a variety of stress scenarios. Assuming they are, a generous cash yield offers your best assurance that the price you’re paying is real, not a pipedream. Here are the top dividend stocks to buy for the month of February: McDonald’s (MCD), Ship Finance (SFL), Merck (MRK), CoreSite Realty (COR), Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund (ESD), CPFL Energia S.A. (CPL) and Telkom Indonesia (TLK).

Source: InvestorPlace

Related Articles:

• 10 Dividend Stocks Delivering A Quick Payback
• 10 Stocks With Sustainable Dividend Growth
• Should You Still Buy-And-Hold Stocks?
• Passing the Torch - Part 1 of 2
• Dividend Payout vs. Free Cash Flow Payout

Read More...

Summary only...

U.S. dividend stocks offer some interesting possibilities for income-seeking investors, and now’s an opportune time to buy them because the Canadian dollar is at parity with the U.S. buck. But what’s the right investing vehicle for the likes of AT&T, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Intel and McDonald’s, all of which yield more than 3.3 per cent?

We’ll start with U.S. dividend stocks or dividend-focused exchange-traded funds that you plan to hold for the long term in order to generate investment income. The first thing you need to know is that you’ll have to do without the dividend tax credit that makes dividends from Canadian companies so attractive when received in taxable accounts.

Source: Globe and Mail

Related Articles:

• The Best Dividend Stocks In The World
• 10 Best U.S. Dividend Stocks
• High-Quality Low-Risk Dividend Stocks
• The 2010 Dividend Aristocrats
• Dividend Stocks Secret Ingredient

Read More...

Summary only...

Rising commodity prices will have to accompany any US dollar decline. That makes US companies producing natural resources guaranteed beneficiaries of any pick-up in commodity prices. So are master limited partnerships that own energy infrastructure. Their tolls automatically adjust upward with energy prices and inflation, hence their cash flows and dividends. And I’ll put the MLP Profits advisory I co-edit with Elliott Gue up against anything else covering that sector as well.

Dramatically altering your investment strategy based on inherently emotional politics, however, is just as bad an idea now as it was in early 2009. Focus instead on buying and holding healthy and growing companies paying big dividends. That’s been the key to strong returns for income investors the past three years, some of the most uncertain and volatile in market history. And it will work even better if and when the economy and markets work their way back to a more stable course.

Source: Investing Daily

Related Articles:

• 6 Dividend Stocks That Will Make You Smile
• Are ETFs and CEFs Good Income Investments?
• 7 Investor Traits to Achieve Success
• To Infinity and Beyond!
• Fishing in the Bathtub

Read More...

Summary only...

"High-quality stocks bought at historically low-price-to-high-yield offer the best potential for downside protection and upside appreciation," says dividend specialist Kelley Wright. The editor of IQ Trends explains, "Our 'Timely Ten' list is our reasoned expectation based on our methodology and experience for what we believe will perform best over the next five years.

"The Timely Ten consists of undervalued stocks that generally have a S&P Dividend & Earnings Quality rating of A- or better and a track record for exemplary long-term dividend growth. "In addition, we look for a P/E ratio of 15 or less, a payout ratio of 50% or less, debt of 50% or less, and technical characteristics on the daily and weekly charts that suggests the potential for imminent capital appreciation.

Source: BloggingStocks

Related Articles:

• 10 Dividend Stocks With Above Target Returns
• Seven Important Reasons for Dividend Investing
• The 2011 Dividend Aristocrats
• Is Your Portfolio Average?
• Five High-Yield Positive Return Investments

Read More...

Summary only...

Looking at the asset mix of a portfolio is the easy part. Deciding how to break out where investments should be held is not so easy. Decisions about where to hold investments can have a significant long-term effect on your wealth. I believe that for wealthy Canadians, this is where some of the biggest investment mistakes occur.

Conventional wisdom suggests that it is important to start out with a well thought out review of your overall asset mix. The next step is to maximize it for tax purposes. If an Ontario resident has $60,000 of income, the tax rate on interest is 31 per cent, on capital gains it is 16 per cent, and on dividends from eligible corporations (most publicly traded Canadian companies), the tax rate is 10 per cent. The preferred shares are in the cash account for safety, but also because they produce dividend income, which is taxed at a much lower rate than interest.

Source: CTV

Related Articles:

• 8 Dividend Stocks With The Right Stuff
• 3 Styles Of Sucessful Dividend Investing
• The Best Dividend Stocks In The World
• International Diversification Begins At Home
• Increasing Dividend Yield Part VI: Time

Read More...

Summary only...