Bar Harbor Bankshares Increases Quarterly Cash Dividend

Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE Amex: BHB), today announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 27.5 cents per share of common stock, representing an increase of 0.5 cents or 1.8% from prior quarter, and an increase of 1.5 cents or 5.8% compared with the third quarter of 2010. The quarterly cash dividend is payable to all shareholders of record as of the close of business August 17, 2011 and will be paid on September 15, 2011.... more

B&G Foods Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend

B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.21 per share of common stock. The dividend will be payable on October 31, 2011 to shareholders of record as of September 30, 2011. At the closing market price of the common stock on July 19, 2011, the current dividend represents an annualized yield of 4.0%. This is the twenty-eighth consecutive quarterly dividend declared by the Board of Directors since B&G Foods’ initial public offering in October 2004.... more

Enterprise Bancorp, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend.

Enterprise Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company”) (Nasdaq: EBTC) On July 19, 2011, the Board of Directors of Enterprise Bancorp, Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.105 per share to be paid on September 1, 2011 to shareholders of record as of August 11, 2011. The quarterly dividend represents a 5.0% increase over the 2010 dividend rate.... more

AptarGroup Reports All-Time High Quarterly Results; Raises Dividend 22% and Increases Shares Authorized for Repurchase; CEO Peter Pfeiffer to Retire at End of Year

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE: ATR) today reported record quarterly results. The Board of Directors also increased the quarterly dividend and authorized the repurchase of an additional 4 million shares of common stock. Also, President and CEO, Peter Pfeiffer, announced his plans to retire at the end of the year.... more

8 Dividend Stocks With Falling P/E and Rising EPS

When a company’s P/E ratio has fallen over time, while earnings steadily rise, it is a sign that price has not proportionately increased with earnings. In other words, the earnings may not be fully priced into the stock, and the stock may be undervalued. We ran a screen on dividend stocks paying yields above 2% and sustainable payout ratios below 35%. We searched this universe for stocks that have seen a decrease in P/E (comparing the trailing-twelve-month figure to the company’s 3-year average), while also seeing an increase in earnings per share (comparing last year to two years prior). Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research. ... more

Cousins Properties Declares Third Quarter Common and Preferred Stock Dividends

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.045 per common share, payable August 25, 2011, to common stockholders of record on August 11, 2011. The $0.045 per share quarterly dividend equates to $0.18 on an annualized basis.... more

FIS Announces Quarterly Dividend

FISâ„¢ (NYSE: FIS), the world’s largest provider of banking and payments technology, today announced a regular quarterly dividend of $0.05 per common share. The dividend is payable September 30, 2011, to shareholders of record as of the close of business September 16, 2011.... more

The Extraordinary Power of Dividends: V.F. Corp. 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

3 Hot Dividend Stocks for Your Portfolio

Coming off a great third quarter when earnings rose an unexpectedly high 30%, Walgreen (NYSE: WBA) announced it would increase its quarterly dividend from $0.175 to $0.225 a share, a 29% increase. This marks the 36th consecutive year Walgreen has increased its dividend. There is some speculation, however, that Walgreen will run into some trouble over a coming contract renewal with pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX). The current relationship generates about $5 billion in sales annually, and while most analysts expect the situation to resolve itself, there is no guarantee that Walgreen will come out of the negotiation unscathed.... more

5 Bulls Eye Dividend Picks for a Profitable Portfolio

As I stated in my profile, I prefer investing in stocks with the highest dividend yield, along with admirable P/E ratios and strong upside potentials. It is always advantageous to invest in reasonably priced, high-yielding companies promising excellent EPS growth in the future. Therefore, I made a list of top five large-cap stocks offering dividend yields upwards of 5%, and showing a maximum P/E ratio of 20 (data obtained from finviz/morningstar, and current as of the July 18). AT&T (T) : AT&T was chosen the best among four wireless service providers in the U.S. As of July 18, the telecom titan had a market cap of $179.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97, and a forward P/E of 11.93. Analysts expect the company to have 5.90% EPS growth in the next... more