9 Dividend Stocks With Improving Profitability and Interest Coverage
When considering dividend stocks, it is important to also consider company profitability. If a firm’s profitability suffers, the dividend yield may be the first to go. We ran a screen on dividend stocks paying dividend yields above 2% and sustainable payout ratios below 35%. We screened this universe for stocks seeing significant improvements in profitability, comparing trailing-twelve-month EBITDA/common equity to the company’s five-year average. Because EBITDA does not take into account interest coverage, we also controlled for increases in the interest coverage ratio, comparing the trailing-twelve-month ratio to the prior-year’s TTM ratio.Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned below. Analyst... more
LNB Bancorp, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend on Series B Preferred Shares
The Board of Directors of LNB Bancorp, Inc. (LNBB) has declared a cash dividend of $12.50 per share, or approximately $315,000, on LNB’s Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock Series B, payable on August 15, 2011 to the shareholder of record as of August 5, 2011.... more
Looking For Dividend Stocks With Buffett's Criteria
I've praised Warren Buffett in this space before, and for good reason - he has one of the most successful - and longest-running - investment track records in the world. Better yet, he always manages to keep a level head even when the markets are going haywire. In fact, he has almost always managed to use those times to make masterful moves that yield longer-term profits. And I would argue that his success is largely based on his ability to relentlessly focus on important fundamental measures of a business' worth … regardless of what others are currently thinking. Of course, dividends are an area where Warren and I somewhat disagree … or at least where our purposes dictate we differ. It's not that Buffett doesn't buy dividend-paying companies. In fact, many... more
The Extraordinary Power of Dividends: DuPont 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
The Extraordinary Power of Dividends: Johnson & Johnson 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
51 Dividend Increases Expected in the Next 10 Weeks
In compiling the Dividend Champions list I get to see what companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, I can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again.
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Should Dividend Growth Investors Disregard Dividend Freezes From the 2008-09 Crisis?
Like any strategy, investing for income via dividend growth requires discipline. Set up some guidelines that make sense for your goals, skills, risk tolerance and so forth. Then learn and improve, expanding what works and refining or rejecting what doesn't. Sure, you might also invest in other assets, using other strategies and approaches. But if you're willing to invest in just about anything you don't have a strategy, you have a compulsion. Following a strategy means you miss opportunities that fall outside your chosen approach, just like the flinty value investors who missed boatloads of bucks passing up Google (GOOG). But they don't seem to mind off-strategy misses and neither should you. Strategy is as much a discipline of exclusion as a focus on inclusion. Ask Warren Buffett how he... more
Portfolio Considerations: High-Yielding Preferred Stock ETFs
Savings accounts are paying less than 1%, 10-year U.S. treasury bonds are paying 2.9%, and intermediate-corporate bonds are paying only 4%, so income investors have been putting their money into preferred stocks, or preferreds. With current yields over 6%, preferred stock exchange-traded funds have had inflows of over $1.5 billion year to date.The most popular preferred ETF, iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (PFF), is up an impressive 11.28% annualized over the last three years. This trounces the S&P 500 return of only 3.99% and Barclays Aggregate Bond return of 6.9%. Given the recent strong performance (and performance chasing from investors), let's examine whether preferred stock still makes sense for investment today.Preferreds 101Before considering an investment here, it is... more
Bank of Marin Bancorp Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend
Bank of Marin Bancorp (“the Bank”) (Nasdaq: BMRC) has announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per share. The cash dividend is payable to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 4, 2011 and will be payable on August 12, 2011. The Bank has paid a dividend for the past 25 quarters.... more