6 Financials Stocks With a Track Record of Raising Dividends

When the U.S. economy plunged into full-on crisis mode back in 2008, big banks were among the first to take the hit. Those that survived the initial impact responded by slashing dividends to mere pennies a share as they struggled to realign their balance sheets. But in the years since, the financial sector has staged a swift recovery, affirmed by the robust bank earnings that have begun to file in. JP Morgan got things off to a strong start, reporting a 47% rise in profits for the last quarter of 2010. And those numbers have firm CEO Jamie Dimon feeling optimistic about 2011. He expects the bank to be able to raise dividends to as much as $1 per share by Q2, provided they pass the Fed's mandatory stress test.... Read more