Stocks Trading Ex-Dividend 01/24: (CLX) (GOV) (CPNO)

The following is a list of companies trading ex-dividend January 24th:
Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX), paying 60 cents with a current yield of 3.5%;
Government Properties IT (NYSE: GOV), paying 42 cents with a current yield of 7.0%; and
Copano Energy (Nasdaq: CPNO), paying 57.5 cents with a current yield of 6.7%.... more

The GDL Fund Resets Dividend Rate for its Series B Cumulative Puttable and Callable Preferred Shares

The Board of Trustees of The GDL Fund (NYSE: GDL) (the “Fund”) has determined to reset the annual dividend rate to 3.00% for the Series B Preferred Shares, effective for the four dividend periods after March 26, 2012.... more

14 High-Dividend Stocks With The Highest Yields In Their Sectors

During the past few years, the financial markets have been hit by one crisis after another. For example, during the past summer, the market was hit heavily by the European debt crisis. However, this type of environment cannot last forever. Since the end of the third quarter last year, the market was up nearly 17%. We think such economic growth will continue in the future and the Fed may be late in response. We do not like the Fed's expansionary monetary policies and we are concerned that these policies will lead to inflation. Therefore, we have been recommending conservative investors play defensively by purchasing dividend stocks. In this article, we will discuss the high-dividend stocks with the highest dividend yields in their sectors. All companies have at least $10 billion market cap... more

9 Most Attractive Large Cap Dividend Stocks To Consider

A cheap stock is the basis for every future returns. Beside cheap fundamentals and pricing ratios of a company, the expected growth is an additional important item for investors. Let's take a look at the market for some dividend bargains in relation to growth. I screened the capital market by cheap large capitalized stocks - stocks with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion and an expected earnings growth of at least 20 percent for the next year, but they have a price to earnings ratio of less than 15 and a price to sales ratio of less than 2. Only nine stocks fulfilled these criteria. Here are the detailed results: 1. Telefonica S.A. (TEF) has a market capitalization of $26.12 billion. The company employs 35,466 people, generates revenues of $78,575.13 million and has a net... more

7 Stocks With Stellar Yields As High As 15.4%

If you are new to the dividend game, the following key metrics could prove to be very useful in the selection process. Operating cash flow is generally a better metric than earnings per share because a company can show positive net earnings and still not be able to properly service its debt; the cash flow is what pays the bills. The payout ratio tells us what portion of the profit is being returned to investors. A payout ratio over 100% indicates that the company is paying out more money to shareholders then they are making; this situation cannot last forever. In general, if the company has a high operating cash flow and access to capital markets, they can keep this going on for a while. As companies usually only pay the portion of the debt that is coming due and not the whole debt, this... more

18 Highest Dividend Yield Country ETFs

The VIX has been in a downtrend since last November, which would point to declining volatility. The S&P 500 (SPY) is above 200-day moving averages, which is widely regarded as bullish. The TED spread, a difference between the interest rates on interbank loans and on T-bills, is decreasing, which indicates improving of credit in the general economy. More and more investors have gone overseas to diversify their portfolios and boost their performance. With single-country ETFs dedicated to many developed and emerging markets, accessing different country markets around the globe has become much easier. Country ETFs with High Yields Followings are 18 country ETFs from iShares with the highest dividend yields: Fund Name (Ticker) Yield P/E ... more

Financial Stock Dividends

The difficult business and regulatory environment has made it difficult for financial companies to pay strong dividend yields. Evidence of the dividend struggle for the group can be seen by looking at the most popular financial stock ETF: Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF). XLF pays a dividend of only 1.62%, well below the 2.37% dividend the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) offers. The lack of a dividend yield has helped contribute to the weak performance in financial shares over the past three years. With dividends becoming increasingly more important, investors should consider financial stocks that pay dividends ahead of financial stocks that do not pay dividends. This article lists the top dividend payers in each sub sector of the financial sector. Insurance Companies ... more

Forget The Ladies: 5 Dividend Stocks I Absolutely Love

Growing up, my mother always loved to provide advice about nearly every avenue of my life. Whenever she spoke to me about women, though, she'd always say the exact same thing: "Pey, never tell 'em you love 'em unless you really mean it. Once it's been said, you're in it for the long haul." It's really not bad advice. In fact, as I get older and, sadly, begin to think less about the ladies and more about investments, I find this advice also holds true in other avenues of my life. Dividend investing, for instance, is a perfect example. Never jump into a stock unless you truly love the business and believe it's a good investment. To me, once you decide to pick up shares, I'm in it for the long haul. I've purchased many companies over the last few years of my investing career... more

Dissecting Barron's On Dividends

The Barron's cover story was about seeking a 4% yield from stocks. It was a broad look across many sectors in the S&P 500 at stocks that have the room to increase their dividends substantially or in some cases initiate a substantial dividend. My take on dividends has been consistent. They are crucial to long term portfolio success, but I do not believe in owning high yielders or dividend growers exclusively. There was one point made early in the article that I think needs to be dissected because I think it distorts how markets tend to work. During 2011, high-dividend payers were the top-performing group in the S&P 500, with the top 50 yielders at the start of 2011—all with 4%-plus yields—returning more than 8% (not including dividends), compared with a flat showing for the... more

Dividend Driven Portfolio: 17 ETFs Plus 2 Stocks

Emphasizing dividends when constructing a portfolio generally has two positive side benefits. Risk or portfolio volatility is reduced and portfolio diversification is increased. The following portfolio is made up of 17 ETFs and two stocks. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY) and Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) are included to enhance income and lower overall correlation among the various investments. The following analysis assumes the S&P 500 will grow at an annualized rate of 7.0% over the next six to twelve months. Historical data included the last three years. I would have extended the time but not all ETFs had four-years of historical data. The basic goals were to find a group of dividend instruments that would generate a projected return in excess of one percentage point above that projected... more