Eleven Dividend Kings, Raising Dividends For 50+ Years

There are several lists that dividend investors use in order to find investment ideas. The dividend achievers and the dividend champions lists are just two starting points. The lists focus mostly on companies raising distributions for over 10 for the achievers and over 25 years for the champions. There are eleven companies however, which have each managed to increase distributions for over half a century. This is no small accomplishment, given the fact that the past half a century included several recessions, oil price shocks, high inflation and interest rates and several wars. The companies with the longest record of annual dividend increases include: Diebold Incorporated (DBD) provides integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services primarily to the financial,... more

European Vs. American Dividends: 6 Things To Consider

Dividend investors often ask whether their portfolio should include any European stocks as European and American companies have differing practices on dividend issuance. The difference usually stems from the fact that American and European investors have different mindsets. When it comes to dividends, American investors prefer stable, solid and predictable dividends, whereas European investors would not mind taking risks with their dividends because they are not as focused on capital growth as much as Americans are. Let's compare dividend practices of some American and European companies. First we will look at the Dutch electronics company Philips (PHG). Last year the company issued dividends of 95 cents per share, yielding 3% based on the share price on the day of issuance. The same... more

7 Plays Sporting Yields As High As 19.8%

Dividend investors would do well to pay attention to some of the following key metrics as they could prove to be of great assistance during the selection process. Enterprise value is a combination of the market cap, debt, minority interests, preferred shares less total cash and cash equivalents. This provides a better picture because it is a more accurate representation of a company's value contrary to simply looking at the Market cap. Levered free cash flow is the amount of cash available to stock holders after interest payments on debt are made. A company with a small amount of debt will only have to spend a modest amount of money on interest payments, which in turn means that there is more money to send to shareholders in the form of dividends and vice versa. Individuals searching for... more

5 Equities For Retirees Yielding Over 4%

As investors face a weak and lackluster recovery with stubbornly high unemployment and high debt loads interest rates will likely remain low beyond 2013. Retirees looking for yield have sought dividend paying equities. Retirees should focus on large-capitalization businesses with market leadership positions and modest leverage. While quantitative metrics are important to screen, investors need to assess the quality of the underlying business and its ability to grow earnings in a weak economic environment. With the 10-year U.S. treasury below 2.0%, equity market investors can find yields in high-quality large-capitalization companies at relatively modest valuations. These equities have outperformed the broader market as measured by the S&P500 (SPY). (Click chart to expand) LTM... more

5 Stocks With 4.1%-Plus Yields Going Ex-Dividend This Week

Is it time to flee to safety? With the economic and political climates only becoming more tumultuous I have been concentrating on high-yield equities recently. We all know about the blue-chip dividend companies but there are attractive companies with high yields that are going ex-dividend every week. This strategy can work in one of two ways: either you buy before the ex-date to receive the dividend or buy after if the stock declines far below the after-tax amount of the dividend. Buying the stock to receive the dividend is intuitive but many have contacted me requesting further details on the second strategy. Investopedia has a great example of how this works. To explain this, I will use AT&T (T) as an example. AT&T declared a $.44 dividend to shareholders of record on January 10, 2012.... more

Tracking The Best Vanguard ETF For Dividend Growth Investors

Suppose you have a friend who has just inherited some money or has rolled over an IRA or 401k into a Vanguard brokerage account and wants to invest this nest egg using a dividend growth strategy. At the moment of truth, however, he or she gets cold feet about buying individual stocks. Despite the many useful articles found on Seeking Alpha, your friend is worried about individual companies going bankrupt, inadequate portfolio diversification, and failure to earn enough interest to make retirement possible. It all seems too overwhelming. So your friend asks you for advice. Here are some ideas that might help you arrive at an answer. To pursue a dividend growth strategy in this context means looking for ETFs that, have a decent yield, pay dividends that increase every year or at least... more

Carpenter Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

The Board of Directors of Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE: CRS), at its meeting yesterday, declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share of common stock, payable March 1, 2012, to shareholders of record on January 31, 2012. The ex-dividend date (the date the common stock trades without the dividend) is January 27, 2012.... more

Agilent Technologies Announces First Cash Dividend of 10 Cents per Share

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that on Jan. 17, 2012, its board of directors approved the initiation of quarterly cash dividends to its shareholders and declared the first cash dividend in the company’s history.... more

5 Energy Stocks For Dividend Growth Junkies

Energy stocks have traditionally been attractive because they pay dividends. Depending on the company, these dividend payouts can be essential to equity portfolios for long-term investors. The price of oil continues to be around $100 a barrel, and drillers expect earnings to increase in 2012. We take a look at five energy dividend stocks related to the oil and gas drilling industry to determine how they are faring in light of the complex and risky nature of the business. Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) Shares are trading around $28.36 at the time of this article's writing. This was 36.61% above the 52-week low of $20.76 that was set on Oct. 4, 2011. The 52-week range was $20.76 to $42.75. Its market cap is $184.9 billion and earnings per share for last year were $3.52 billion. The company paid... more

Hospitality Properties Trust Announces 2011 Dividend Allocation

Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT) today announced that the characterization of dividends for 2011 income tax reporting purposes is as follows:... more