The Extraordinary Power of Dividends: Chevron Edition

"Dividends?" he asked. "I'm trying to make my clients wealthy. You don't do that waiting for tiny checks in the mailbox every quarter." Even then, I had enough horse sense to know he was wrong. Paying attention to dividends is exactly how you become wealthy over time.... more

BB&T: Dividend Dynamo or Blowup?

Let's examine how BB&T (NYSE: BBT) stacks up in four critical areas to determine whether it's a dividend dynamo or a disaster in the making. 1. YieldFirst and foremost, dividend investors like a large forward yield. But if a yield gets too high, it may reflect investors' doubts about the payout's sustainability. If investors had confidence in the stock, they'd be buying it, driving up the share price and shrinking the yield.... more

Best Buy: Dividend Dynamo or Blowup?

Let's examine how Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) stacks up in four critical areas to determine whether it's a dividend dynamo or a disaster in the making. 1. YieldFirst and foremost, dividend investors like a large forward yield. But if a yield gets too high, it may reflect investors' doubts about the payout's sustainability. If investors had confidence in the stock, they'd be buying it, driving up the share price and shrinking the yield.... more

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Second Week of August

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, you have to be extremely careful. In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over... more

Berkshire Income Realty to Pay Regular Cash Dividend on its Series A Preferred Stock

Berkshire Income Realty, Inc. (NYSE AMEX: BIR.PR.A), (NYSE AMEX: BIR_PA), (NYSE AMEX: BIRPRA), (NYSE AMEX: BIR-A), (NYSE AMEX: BIR.A), (NYSE AMEX: BIR/PRA) (the “Company”) announced today that it will pay its regular quarterly cash dividend of $.5625 on each share of its 9% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock on August 15, 2011, to shareholders of record on August 10, 2011. The regular cash dividend payable on the Series A Preferred Stock is payable on February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15 of each year.... more

Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. Declares Dividend on Common Stock

Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. (Nasdaq: GIFI), announced today that its board of directors declared a dividend of $0.06 per share on Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc.’s approximately 14.3 million shares of common stock outstanding.... more

5 Highly Profitable Stocks With Rising Dividends and Decreasing Payout Ratio

Certain dividend trends can help an investor gain insight into the reliability of a company’s dividend yield. One trend is a rising dividend per share while the company’s payout ratio (dividends/earnings) is decreasing. This implies that earnings are growing, and dividends are not becoming a larger fraction of earnings. We screened highly profitable stocks, beating their industry peers on gross, operating, and pretax margins over the trailing twelve months (TTM) for those that have seen rising dividends (comparing the current year dividend per share estimate to the most recent fiscal year dividend per share) while seeing a falling payout ratio (comparing the trailing-twelve-month ratio to the three-year average). Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings... more

5 High Yielding Birth Control Stocks

An Institute of Medicine medical advisory panel recently recommended to the Health and Human Services Department that contraception should qualify as preventive care. Since insurers must fully cover the cost of preventative care under the new health care law, then everyone would have access to free birth control. No decision has been made yet by the Obama administration.Income investors who believe that birth control is a growing business have plenty of dividend paying stocks to choose from. Here are some companies involved in birth control, some in a small way, some in a large way.Merck (MRK) is the manufacturer of the NuvaRing, a combined hormonal contraceptive vaginal ring available by prescription and Implanon, a single-rod long acting reversible hormonal contraceptive birth control... more

United Online Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.10 Per Share

United Online, Inc. (UNTD), a leading provider of consumer products and services over the Internet, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share.... more

First Surgical Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

First Surgical Partners Inc. (OTC: FSPI) (the "Company"), which provides non-threatening surgeries through its two ambulatory surgery centers and a general acute care hospital, is pleased to announce today that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.0275 per share on its shares of common stock that will be paid on August 12, 2011 to stockholders of record on August 11, 2011.... more