11 Outstanding Businesses Raising Dividends

It takes an outstanding business to increase dividends for decades, and outstanding businesses are often outstanding long-term investments. Weak businesses simply can’t and don’t raise dividends for decades. Below I have highlighted ten exceptional businesses, each of which has raised distributions for over 5 years in a row, and which also announced dividend increases over the past week:Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products, and petrochemicals in North America. This master limited partnership announced increase in quarterly distributions to 60.50 cents/unit, which represents a 5.2 percent increase over the $0.575 per unit distribution rate declared with respect to the... more

Northern Trust Declares Quarterly Dividend

Northern Trust Corporation, holding company of The Northern Trust Company, today declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.28 per share on its common stock ($1.66-2/3 par value). The dividend is payable on October 3, 2011 to stockholders of record on its transfer books at 5 p.m., Chicago time, on September 9, 2011.... more

The Extraordinary Power of Dividends: IBM 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

This High-Yield Dividend Portfolio Will Beat The Market

Altria (NYSE: MO) $24.86... more

5 Financial Companies Paying Dividends of 4% or More

Although the collapse in 2008 did some damage to the financial sector, it is still a brilliant sector offering excellent profits to investors. The financial companies offer magnificent dividends and are extremely low-priced when compared to other sectors. Although the average volatility of the sector is relatively high, it may return fast and large profits in an upward market. Here is a list of five mid-cap financial stocks paying outstanding dividends and priced with low P/E ratios. All of the companies pay a minimum 4% dividend yield (data derived from Finviz/Morningstar and is current as of July 18): KKR & Co. (KKR): KKR may bid for Acibadem, a Turkish hospital chain. As of July 18, the New-York based company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a P/E of 8.69... more

5 A-Rated Dividend Stocks

Fortunately, those dark days are behind us, and companies have generally been raising their payouts. According to recent S&P data, fully 444 companies raised their dividend in the second quarter, up from 335 in the second quarter of 2010. Still, dividend cuts remain a clear and present danger as 21 companies cut their payouts in the second quarter. Among this group were Hudson City Bancorp and World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) .... more

The World's Best Dividend Portfolio

The portfolio has underperformed the S&P 500 in its first few weeks, although it was net positive just yesterday. I'm not particularly concerned about short-term fluctuations, though. This dividend portfolio is designed to do better when the market is performing poorly, and there's a good chance we'll see that theory put to the test later this year, especially if Congress enacts any serious austerity measures. In the meantime, we'll cash our dividend checks and wait for an opportunity to reinvest those proceeds. Dividends and earnings announcementsAlthough we bought into many of these stocks (Southern, Exelon, Frontier, Brookfield) a bit late to get the June dividends, often it's better to purchase dividend stocks when they're not approaching the ex-dividend date. Nevertheless, we have a... more

The Extraordinary Power of Dividends: Southern Co. 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

4 Solid Dividend Stocks to Buy in Whipsawed Markets

If you are not the type of investor to jump on the bond-market bandwagon during market instability, perhaps looking at a few conservative dividend stocks will give the desired results during volatile conditions. Due to the beaten up financial sector, when looking at virtually any time frame over the past year, we will exclude any such company.Some of the criteria we will look for are: Seven years of increasing dividends Seven-year dividend growth rate greater than 10% Current earnings growth above the three-year average A reduction in liabilities/assets on the quarterly report Yield greater than 3 percent Payout ratio less than 50% (or 85% for utility companies) Dividend Stocks to Contemplate Avista Corporation (AVA)This utility company is trading 27% above its book value.... more

10 Stocks With A Strong Cash To Dividend Coverage

Dividends are not paid with sales, earnings, EPS, EBIT or EBITDA. Instead dividends are paid with cash. As an investor, you want to pay close attention to the cash flow statement. Unfortunately, it is probably the least used and most misunderstood statement. Ultimately, cash flow is what drives the value of any financial asset. The reason analysts look at revenue, EPS, EBIT, EBITDA and margins, they are trying to estimate the level of cash the company will generate in the future. Dividends In Downturns When a company consistently generates more cash than it uses, it is able to increase dividends paid, buy back shares, reduce debt, or acquire another company. However, as we learned in the 2008-2009 economic downturn, businesses sometimes go through lean times. When the economy... more