Top 7 Consumer Companies Offering Substantial Dividends

The demand for products made by consumer companies never slows as they provide the most vital necessities for our daily lives. This sector does not go berserk,and is one of the least risky businesses as beta and correlation are relatively lower, when compared to the overall market. Here, is a list of seven gladiators in this industry offering yields of 3% or more. All of these companies have a minimum market cap of $13 billion, and a maximum P/E ratio of 17 (data from finviz/morningstar, and is current as of July 7 close): Procter & Gamble Co. (PG): P&G’s CEO said that... more

13 Dividend Stocks Benefitting from Rising Commodity Prices

With all of the talk about rising commodity prices, I've spent a lot of time looking for value stocks that can benefit from rising prices. With that in mind, I ran a screen looking for Russell 1000 stocks with above a 2% dividend yield in the basic materials or oil and gas sector. Only the thirteen stocks below managed to pass the test: Ticker Company Price Div Yld P/E EV / EBITDA SCCO SOUTHERN COPPER 31.88 7.02 16.64 9.49 KMI KINDER MORGAN IN 29.11 3.99 NUE NUCOR CORP 40.82 3.55 49.18 12.44 IP INTL PAPER CO 30.05 3.49 11.04 5.53 COP CONOCOPHILLIPS 76.03 3.47 ... more

Solar Senior Capital Announces Increased Monthly Dividend of $0.07 per Share for July 2011

Solar Senior Capital Ltd. (Nasdaq: SUNS), today declared a dividend payment of $0.07 per share for the month of July 2011. The dividend will be paid on August 1, 2011 to stockholders of record on July 18, 2011. The Company expects the dividend to be paid from taxable earnings with specific tax characteristics reported to stockholders after the end of the calendar year.... more

Cabot Board Declares Dividend

On Thursday, July 7, 2011, the Board of Directors of Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share on all outstanding shares of the Corporation’s common stock. The dividend is payable on September 9, 2011 to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 29, 2011.... more

Celanese Corporation Declares Common Share Dividend

Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), a global technology and specialty materials company, today declared a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share on its common stock, payable on August 1, 2011.... more

3 Dividend Stocks for Your Watchlist

We can help you keep tabs on your companies with MyWatchlist.com, our free, personalized stock-tracking service. Here are three dividend stocks for your watchlist. 1. Mesabi Trust (NYSE: MSB) Similar to Great Northern Iron Ore (NYSE: GNI) , Mesabi Trust is a royalty trust with large holdings of iron ore and is a great way to gain direct exposure to the metal. The ore is mined by Northshore Mining, a subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) . Shares took a beating the past few months, after the company announced that its first-quarter distribution would be more than 50% lower than last year's and more than a 90% down from the previous quarter's.... more

5 Stocks Raising Dividends While Being Bought Up by the Smart Money

If you’re looking for sources of dividend income, this list may give you some interesting ideas for your search. We ran a screen on dividend stocks that have seen at least a 15% increase in dividend per share, comparing the trailing-twelve-month figure to the current year estimate. These stocks pay at least a dividend yield above 2%, with a sustainable payout ratio below 35%. From this universe, we then searched for those that have also seen significant net buying from institutional investors (i.e. the “smart money”) over the current quarter. 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. We also created a price-weighted index of the stocks... more

Drink Up These Dividends

Foreign affairsLiquor giant Diageo (NYSE: DEO) is making the most of foreign growth opportunities. The company is slowly working to acquire a Chinese company with one hand, while pushing its mainstream brands -- like Johnnie Walker -- into the country with the other. As a result, sales growth rose 9% in the Asia Pacific region for the nine months ending in March. Strong growth is great, especially when it comes to increasing dividends. Company TTM Dividend Yield 5-Year % Increase Diageo... more

Merck's 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

Huge Dividends From America's Energy Game Changer

NatGas!In the past few years, new technologies and cheaper costs allowed producers to access gas trapped in parts of the U.S. previously considered unreachable. As more companies have tapped these unconventional plays, U.S. natural gas production has risen roughly 25% over the past five years, to 78 billion cubic feet per day, or Bcfd for short. Experts expect production to keep rising over the next 25 years, to 113 Bcfd by 2035. Currently there is a rush to secure drilling leases in the U.S. which is keeping natural gas supply higher than demand. This has pushed down the price of natural gas to a very low $4.2/mcf, below many producers price of production. The low prices in the U.S. are a stark contrast to the rest of the world.... more