George Soros's Favorite High-Dividend Stock Picks

George Soros is an 80-year-old Hungarian-American hedge fund manager who became known as "the Man Who Broke the Bank of England" after he made $1 billion in 1992. Soros graduated from the London School of Economics in 1952. After graduation, he started his career in the London merchant bank of Singer & Friedlander. In 1956 he moved to New York City and his career took off. He earned large profits from investments and currency speculation. According to Forbes, he is ranked 35th on the list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $14.2 billion. Soros returned an average of 30.5% per year between 1969 and 2000. In 2007, Soros came back from retirement after the quant liquidity crunch and managed to generate a 32% return for the year. Soros even managed to return 8%... more

2 Electric Utility Dividends to Buy and 1 to Avoid

The attraction to the electric utility sector is the plethora of delectable dividends. You can pretty safely invest in this sector and land a stable dividend. However, there are two companies in this sector that stand out above their peers and also one that I feel fails to make the cut. Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) -- trust itOne aspect you need to understand about electric utilities is you won't get any barn-burning growth, and Southern is evidence of this. The company's five-year projected growth rate of 5.5% might put most investors to sleep, but a 4% compounded annual growth rate in the company's dividend over the past five years is nothing to sneeze at. Aside from a special dividend in 2001, the company hasn't lowered its quarterly distribution in the past 29 years -- that's consistency.... more

4 Undervalued Stocks on a Rally With Great Dividend Growth

Value investors often look for companies that are trading below their liquidation value, i.e. a company's price to book value per share below one. If you believe in this philosophy and you are also looking to boost your portfolio’s dividend income, this article could be an interesting starting point. o To construct this list we looked for stocks with dividend yields greater than 2% and with these characteristics: Trading below book value, i.e. price to book value per share below 1 Trading above its 20, 50, and 200-day moving averages (i.e. in a rally mode) 5yr dividend growth rate better than the industry average 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... more

16 High-Dividend Growth Stocks Deeply Undervalued by Target Price

A high dividend growth rate can be a great sign for a company--dividend increases tend to signal that management is optimistic on future prospects. There are, however, a few caveats to consider. High dividend yields (the dividend divided by share price) and high payout ratios (the dividend as a share of earnings) are less sustainable over time. If you want to rely on your stock’s dividend, look for dividend yields below 7% and payout ratios below 35%. Here we ran a screen with these ideas in mind. We searched for stocks with at least 15% growth in dividend per share, comparing the trailing-twelve-month figure to the current year estimate. We then controlled for dividend yields between 2 and 7%, and payout ratios under 35%. Among these stocks, we found 16 that are also deeply undervalued... more

10 Low Debt Dividend Stocks Seeing Significant Institutional Buying

When you consider a dividend stock, company debt levels should always be part of the process. Because debtholders will always be paid before shareholder dividends, large debt payments can put a wedge between the value to shareholders and debtholders, and this can ultimately threaten the dividend. We ran a screen of dividend stocks taking this idea into account. We searched for dividend stocks with sustainable dividend yields (below 7%) and payout ratios (below 35%) from companies carrying low debt relative to assets (with total debt to assets below 20%). From this list, we then found those that have seen significant buying from institutional investors over the current quarter. We also created a price-weighted index of... more

Anticipating a Dividend: Stalking Cash Rich Companies by Selling Puts

Investors love stocks that pay dividends… and rightly so. Dividends have accounted for over 40% of the total annual return of the S&P 500 since 1926, and more than 100% of the returns over the past 10 years (the infamous "lost decade"). Despite the popularity of dividends among investors, there are several cash rich companies out there that are being stingy with shareholders (see list below). Click to enlarge In general, dividend stocks have held up better than non-dividend paying stocks, despite the recent weakness in the equity market. This is because investors are desperately seeking yield in these uncertain times. Below is a recent return comparison of the six companies listed above and six widely held dividend stocks. As you can see, the dividend stocks have... more

My Money Is On This Dividend Stock

With the pain of the latest recession fresh in our minds, and several experts claiming that the next crash is right around the corner, investors have been cozying up to dividend stocks like never before. My pick today, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) , should easily weather any storm that comes our way.... more

Embracing Wild Dividends

Breaking the buck in the money market world was akin to failure. People invested in money markets because they wanted the stability of cash with the premium yields of bonds. The industry spent years convincing them this was doable. Once investors learned it wasn't, and that their investments could in fact lose value, they rushed for the doors. Fast. But as Joe Nocera of the New York Times wrote in 2009, this was hardly a case of reckless management. "When you think about it," he wrote, "the Reserve Fund didn't really 'collapse.' Rather, one of its securities defaulted and it lost a few pennies for its investors. It happens. "... more

20 High Dividend Stocks With Sustainable Payments

Defensive investors like high dividend yielding stocks and consider them as viable options in especially inflationary environments. We expect high dividend stocks to outperform the 10-year Treasuries over the next 10 years. On the other hand, high dividend yields are not the only important criteria to be sought in defensive stocks. Defensive investors may also seek sustainable dividend payments from each high dividend yielding stock. Since high dividend yielding companies with lower dividend payout ratio are more likely to continue paying high dividends in the future, we believe conservative investors like to pick such companies when seeking sustainability and inflation protection. We compiled a list of mega-cap U.S. stocks with low dividend payout ratios and high current dividend yields.... more

Best Healthcare Sector Dividend Stocks

This is the first article of a dividends by sectors series, which will scout out the best quality companies in a given sector that pay greater than a 3% dividend yield. Within the healthcare industry, the big pharmaceutical companies offer the best yields. With relatively low costs outside of research and development, drug manufacturers are able to payout to shareholders by generating high margins. The tradeoff when investing in "Big Pharma" is limited earnings growth opportunity, as tighter regulations along with fewer breakthrough discoveries weigh down the industry. AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) - AstraZeneca is a British drug manufacturer that has a lineup of blockbuster drugs for a variety of ailments. The cardiovascular drug Crestor is the leading seller, accounting for 17% of revenues. The... more