Why Apple Won't Pay a Dividend

"I soon came up with this incredibly conservative approachthatI wanted to haveenoughmoney in the bank to pay a year's worth of payroll even if we didn't get any payments coming in," Gates once said while CEO. "I'vebeen almost true to that the whole time." Microsoft has been berated for its cash hoarding. But Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has taken things to a whole new level. With $76 billion in the bank, Apple has enough cash to pay its overhead expenses for 14 years without a dime of revenue. Steve Jobs makes Bill Gates look like a gambling man.... more

5 International Banks With Big Fat Dividends

What to look forIf you're on the hunt for some banking dividends, pay attention to the trailing yield, forward yield, and payout ratio. Big is good, of course, and I'd consider a dividend yield north of 2% to be healthy, provided the company has ample cash to reinvest and grow. But it's equally important to ensure that the payout is sustainable. Industry benchmarks suggest that a sustainable rate typically ranges between 2% and 5%. The payout ratio is an especially important metric because it compares the dividends paid with the net income the company generates. Let's look at five big banks that offer both income and stability, as well as a chance to help guard your portfolio against unforeseen instability in the domestic markets.... more

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. Declares Cash Dividend

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTLF), announced that its board of directors has approved a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share on the company's common stock, payable on September 9, 2011 to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 26, 2011. At June 30, 2011, there were 16,442,437 common shares outstanding listed on the Nasdaq Market under the symbol HTLF.... more

Wells Fargo Advantage Closed-End Funds Declare Monthly Dividends

Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, announced today the dividend declaration for Wells Fargo Advantage Income Opportunities Fund (NYSE Amex: EAD), Wells Fargo Advantage Multi-Sector Income Fund (NYSE Amex: ERC), and Wells Fargo Advantage Utilities and High Income Fund (NYSE Amex: ERH).... more

Boeing: Dividend Dynamo or Blowup?

Dividend investing is a tried-and-true strategy for generating strong, steady returns in economies both good and bad. But as corporate America's slew of dividend cuts and suspensions over the past few years has demonstrated, it's not enough simply to buy a high yield. You also need to make sure those payouts are sustainable.
Let's examine how Boeing (NYSE: BA) stacks up in four critical areas to determine whether it's a dividend dynamo or a disaster in the making.

1. Yield
First 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

9 Safe Dividend Stocks for Income Seekers

In economic times like these, safe dividend stocks that produce high yields are good buys. This segment of the investment sphere allows you to get a slight return on investment and wait for the market to heat up again. A good place to start looking for stocks like these is to find large-cap companies that have given decent, consistent dividends for years. These companies will offer a much safer investment than trying to predict the rise and fall of stock prices in a manic market. Dividends are indicative of how much cash the company has on hand, so a company with a lot of cash can sustain dividend payments in the short term. Dividends are paid with cash, not earnings or income. To truly find a great dividend stock, a company must have stable earnings stemming from competitive advantages... more

4 Dividend Stocks for Safety and Yield

We took a look at a few high-yielders with the ability to maintain strong dividend payouts. Intel (INTC) paid an annual dividend of $0.63 in the FY2010, making its current dividend yield 2.8%. The company has been able to maintain its dividend payout for the last 73 quarters. The payout has increased by 57.5% in 2010 from that paid in 2006. With the dividend coverage ratio of around 2.01, we believe Intel will continue to support its healthy dividend payout in the future also. For these shares, the 52-week trading range is $17.60-23.96. Intel deals with the design, manufacture, and sale of the integrated circuits for computing and communication industries around the globe. More than 80 percent of the world’s PCs are been run by Intel processors. In the recent earnings announced on July... more

Constellation Energy Declares Quarterly Dividend

Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) today announced that its board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 24 cents per share on the company’s common stock. The dividend, which equates to 96 cents per share annually, is payable on Oct. 3, 2011, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 12, 2011.... more

Halliburton Dividend Declaration

Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) announced that its board of directors has declared a 2011 third quarter dividend of nine cents ($0.09) a share on the company’s common stock payable September 22, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 1, 2011.... more

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The Board of Directors of Alcoa (NYSE: AA) declared (a) a quarterly common stock dividend of 3 cents per share payable August 25, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 5, 2011 and (b) a quarterly dividend of 93.75 cents per share on Alcoa’s $3.75 cumulative preferred stock payable October 1, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 9, 2011.... more