9 Stocks Currently Raising Dividends

The financial crisis of 2007-2009 was particularly painful to investors with an allocation to dividend rich financials. Not only did share prices collapse, but the dividend payments were slashed or eliminated as many financial institutions received funds from TARP. The big news Friday was that the federal government gave its blessing to several large institutions to finally raise distributions to shareholders.The institutions include US Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and State Street (STT).US Bancorp (USB) raised its quarterly distribution from 5 to 12.50 cents/share. This is still below the 42.50 cents/share payment that the bank was paying before the dividend cut. Yield: 1.80%Wells Fargo (WFC) raised its quarterly dividend from 5 to 12 cents/share. The company paid 34 cents/share before joining the crowd of dividend cutters in March 2009. Yield: 1.50%State Street (STT) raised its quarterly dividend from 1 to 18 cents/share.... Read more