Dividend Report Card: AT&T

The Dividend Report Card wasn't designed as a buy or sell signal but rather as a tool to gauge the health of a company's dividend. For a full explanation of each category, click here for a tutorial. Today's pupil is AT&T (NYSE: T) , which posts a 5.5% dividend yield. When we looked at AT&T last quarter, it scored a very solid "B" (4 out of 5). Let's see how it did this time around.... more

4 Special Dividend Plays -- and They're Huge!

If that sounds interesting, then read on. Special dividend situationsIn my Rising Stars portfolio, I follow stocks that have a specific catalyst to unlock value and that are underappreciated by the market. I love to focus on one of the great catalysts -- dividends -- so you get paid to wait for your thesis to play out and then you have a concrete driver of higher share prices.... more

Analog Devices Demands Your Attention

After a very impressive second-quarter report, Analog's shares set multi-year highs with a 50% one-year return including dividends. That's better than the returns from chief rival Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and approaching the same market-stomping ballpark as Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) . The second quarter was both helped and hampered by the disaster in Japan: supply lines and customers suffered but nervous clients responded by stockpiling chips. All told, the puts and takes added up to about $20 million of additional sales, which was insignificant in the context of $791 million of total revenue.... more

Dividend Boost: 3 High Yield Stocks That Short-Sellers Won't Touch

So it makes sense to want to snap up stocks with big fat dividend yields, right? Well, that depends. Remember, dividend yield is a ratio, that shows how much a company pays out in dividends relative to its share price; it's calculated by dividing annual dividends per share by price per share.... more

A Dozen Dow Stocks Yielding at Least 3%

In these times of low yields, which could last for months or even years, many investors are searching for higher yields. I'm always looking for extra yields with a mix of a conservative bias and track records of increased dividends. Below is a list of higher yielding Dow stocks with their dividends and yields: AT&T (T)__$1.72__5.5% Verizon (VZ)__$1.95__5.25% Merck (MRK)__$1.52__4.1% Pfizer (PFE)__$0.80__3.8% Intel (INTC)__$0.84__3.6% Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)__$2.28__3.4% Kraft Foods (KFT)__$1.16__3.3% Procter & Gamble (PG)__$2.10__3.1% McDonald's (MCD)__$2.44__3.0% General Electric (GE... more

Blackrock Buying Shares, Is A Dividend Boost Evident For Bank Of America (NYSE:BAC)?

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) has announced today it is buying the block of shares of BLK currently owned by Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). The repurchase of the 13.6 million series B convertible preferred shares will cost BlackRock approximately $2.55 billion. For BlackRock, the convertible shares held by Bank of America represent 7.1 percent of BlackRock value. The news release from company management notes the shares will be retired, resulting in an immediate boost to net income per share. The $187.65 per share purchase price is a 3.6 percent discount to the average BLK value over the last three weeks of trading. The share repurchase will be funded with a combination of short and long term debt. The shares were initially part of the BlackRock purchase of the asset management... more

Dividend Scan: KEY, TIF, ASH, MCD, FL, UHS, CPA, DDR, CTL

Amidst the positive movement of the US stock indexes, several companies declared their future dividend plans. Some notable dividend payers are discussed here. KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) shares lost 0.12 percent or 1 cent to trade at $8.55 despite increasing its quarterly dividend of 3 cents per share. The dividend is payable on June 15, 2011 to shareholders of record on May 31, 2011. Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) raised its quarterly dividend to 29 cents per share from its previous 25 cents. Shares lost 0.46 percent or 32 cents to trade at $69.81. Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) shares added 0.07 percent or 4 cents to trade at $60.77 as it declared a quarterly cash dividend of 17.5 cents per share. The dividend is payable on June 15, 2011 to shareholders of record on June 2, 2011. McDonald's... more

Is Albemarle's Dividend 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 one 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... more

5 Option Income Ideas With 10% Yield Potential and High Margins of Safety

The Downside of Dividend Stocks Don't get me wrong, I like stocks that have nice dividend yields and offer stable income potential (especially when the market looks weak and is due for pullback). As a matter of fact, I posted an article this week recommending that investors add high-yielding utility stocks to their portfolio (Playing Defense with Dividends: 8 Utility Stocks Yielding Over 5%). Dividend stocks tend to be more stable as they are typically less volatile in nature compared to their non-dividend paying counterparts. However, downside price risk still exists if the equity market experiences a significant downturn (i.e., a falling tide lowers all boats). There is a chance that your entire dividend yield could be wiped out by a falling stock price (over the short-term). That... more

Is Tyson Foods' Dividend 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