Fortune Brands Declares Regular Dividend

Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE: FO) today declared a regular dividend of 19 cents per share on the Common Stock, payable in cash on September 1, 2011, to stockholders of record at the close of business August 10, 2011.... more

Baxter Declares Quarterly Dividend

The Board of Directors of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) today declared a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per Baxter common share.... more

IBM Board Approves Regular Quarterly Cash Dividend

The IBM (NYSE: IBM) board of directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.75 per common share, payable September 10, 2011 to stockholders of record August 10, 2011.... more

SUPERVALU Declares Quarterly Dividend

SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE: SVU) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.0875 per share. The dividend is payable on September 15, 2011 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 1, 2011. As of July 22, 2011, there were approximately 212 million shares outstanding.... more

U.S. Sectors: 10-Year Best and Worst Period Returns, Yield, Volatility and Mean Returns

This table shows the best and worst three-month, one-year and three-year total return, the trailing yield, and the standard deviation, mean return and Sharpe Ratio for three years, five years and 10 years for ETFs that are proxies for the S&P 500 and nine sectors. Note: The classification system used by S&P actually has ten sectors, but the SPDR sector funds are only nine in number. XLK includes both technology and telecom. The ten ETFs analyzed are: SPY (S&P 500 index) XLB (materials) XLE (energy) XLF (financials) XLI (industrials) XLK (technology/telecom) XLP (consumer staples) XLU (utilities) XLV (healthcare) XLY (consumer cyclicals) Click image to enlarge For each attribute, ETFs with a better number than SPY are shaded green. These data may be useful to some... more

6 Dividend Champions With Strong Sources of Profitability

If you are considering stocks for their dividends, be sure to also consider the company’s profitability – if a firm’s profitability suffers, its dividend yield may be the first to go. We ran a screen on dividend champions, stocks that have consistently raised their dividends for the past 25 years. We ran DuPont analysis of return on equity (ROE) profitability on these dividend champions. ROE can be broken up into three components such that increases in ROE can be attributed to those components. ROE = (Net Profit/Equity) = (Net profit/Sales)*(Sales/Assets)*(Assets/Equity) = (Net Profit margin)*(Asset turnover)*(Leverage ratio) Analyzing the sources of returns for a company, we can focus on companies with the following characteristics: Increasing ROE along with, • ... more

LCNB Corp. Declares Third Quarter Dividend

The Directors of LCNB Corp. (OTCBB: LCNB) at their meeting on July 25, 2011, declared a Third Quarter dividend of $.16 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend will be paid on September 15th to shareholders of record September 1, 2011.... more

First Potomac Realty Trust Declares Dividends on Common and Preferred Shares

First Potomac Realty Trust (NYSE: FPO), a leading owner of office and industrial properties in the greater Washington, D.C. region, today announced that its Board of Trustees has declared a dividend of $0.20 per common share for the Company's second quarter ended June 30, 2011. The dividend, which equates to an annualized rate of $0.80 per share, is payable on August 12, 2011, to common shareholders of record on August 5, 2011.... more

Crane Co. Declares Third Quarter Dividend and Announces 13% Dividend Increase

Crane Co., a diversified manufacturer of highly engineered industrial products, is pleased to announce its Board of Directors today declared a 13% increase in its quarterly dividend, to $0.26 per share from $0.23 per share. The dividend is payable on September 9, 2011 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 31, 2011. The indicated annual dividend rate will now be $1.04 per share.... more

CF Industries' Dividend Is Safe

Here, we'll highlight a given company and its closest competitors to see just how safe their dividends are, with a little help from three crucial tools: The interest coverage ratio, or earnings before interest and taxes, divided by interest expense. The interest coverage ratio measures a company's ability to pay the interest on its debt. An interest coverage ratio less than 1.5 is questionable; a number less than 1 means that the company is not bringing in enough money to cover its interest expenses. The EPS payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by earnings per share. The EPS payout ratio measures the percentage of earnings that go toward paying the dividend. A ratio greater than 80% is worrisome. The FCF payout ratio, or dividends per share divided by free cash flow per... more