Dividend Scan: FAF, ADI, MORN, JPM, APD, MTB, DGX

Amidst the positive movement of US stock indexes, several companies declared their future dividend plans. Some notable dividend payers are discussed here. First American Financial Corp. (NYSE: FAF) declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 6 cents per common share, payable on July 15, 2011 to shareholders of record on June 30, 2011. Shares added 1.31 percent or 21 cents to trade at $15.81. Shares of Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) gained 6.26 percent or $2.52 to trade at $42.75 as it raised its quarterly dividend by 14 percent to 25 cents per share. Morningstar Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN) shares slipped 0.20 percent or 12 cents to trade at $58.78 despite declaring a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share. The dividend is payable on July 29, 2011 to shareholders of record on July 15,... more

Five Companies Expected To Hike Dividend This Year

Dividend growth stocks have finally started getting more attention from investors in the last couple years. But these new dividend investors need to remember, it isn't just the current dividend yield that should matter when deciding whether to purchase a stock. The amount of dividend growth should also factor into your decision making process. The global economy is certainly in better shape than it was a couple years ago. Corporate balance sheets are largely in good shape, which has led to quite a few more dividend increases in 2011 than there have been in recent years. Companies across many different industries are taking the initiative to put money back into shareholders pockets, which is a tremendous plus for individual investors. Are you looking for some companies who will likely... more

Is Lowe'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 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

Is McDonald'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 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... more

The Most Promising Dividends in Credit Services

Yields and growth rates and payout ratios, oh my! Before we get to those companies, though, you should understand just why you'd want to own dividend payers. These stocks can contribute a huge chunk of growth to your portfolio in good times, and bolster it during market downturns. As my colleague Matt Koppenheffer has noted: "Between 2000 and 2009, the average dividend-adjusted return on stocks with market caps above $5 billion and a trailing yield of 2.5% or better was a whopping 114%. Compare that to a 19% drop for the S&P 500."... more

Dividend Stocks Increasing Retirement Incomes for Investors

Investors who plan to live off dividends in retirement should follow several guidelines that would ensure they are able to do so. First, they should select companies which have raised distributions each year, in order to ensure that they will generate a sufficient income stream that rises over time, which protects purchasing power of their dollars. Second, they should invest only in companies which meet certain quantitative or qualitative criteria, such as the ones described in this article. Last but not least, investors should be properly diversified in order to minimize exposure in the event of dividend cuts, company failures etc.Carefully selected companies raising dividends could ensure a rising income stream in retirement, which maintains and even increases a retirees purchasing... more

Dividend Stocks Increasing Retirement Incomes for Investors

Investors who plan to live off dividends in retirement should follow several guidelines that would ensure they are able to do so. First, they should select companies which have raised distributions each year, in order to ensure that they will generate a sufficient income stream that rises over time, which protects purchasing power of their dollars. Second, they should invest only in companies which meet certain quantitative or qualitative criteria, such as the ones described in this article. Last but not least, investors should be properly diversified in order to minimize exposure in the event of dividend cuts, company failures etc.Carefully selected companies raising dividends could ensure a rising income stream in retirement, which maintains and even increases a retirees purchasing... more

26 High Dividend Business Software Stocks

Many investors, such as Warren Buffett, speak highly of defensive investing. As Buffett’s mentor Benjamin Graham recommended, investing with a margin of safety can be highly valuable in an especially inflationary environment. Recently we showed that this strategy may be advantageous for investors of mega-cap Technology stocks in the near future. Defensive investing in high dividend-yielding tech stocks provides a better protection in down markets -- though defensive strategy may not yield the best returns in bull markets. Similar strategy can be applied to the Tech sub-sectors, such as Business Software & Services. Although the risky stocks with low dividend yields have benefited from the recent bull market, investors may need to be cautious in the near future. We are concerned... more

Time to Rotate to High Yielding Application Software Stocks: 5 to Consider

In a previous article, we discussed defensive investing in the Technology sector and we showed that investing in large-cap Tech stocks with high dividend yields may be a good strategy for the near future. Defensive investing may not yield the best returns in bull markets, though it provides better protection against a down trend. The same defensive strategy may also be viable for different industries, such as Application Software, within the Tech sector. The risky stocks with low dividend yields may have taken advantage of the recent bull market as the economy recovered. On the other hand, we are concerned about the upcoming inflationary environment and we believe investors should invest more defensively in the near future and look for high dividend yielding stocks. We compiled a... more

5 High Dividend Savings & Loans Providing Good Returns During a Difficult Period

Recently, we compiled a list of the top 30 US Financial stocks and showed that high dividend yielding financials have performed better than low dividend yielding financials in the last 52-week period. The highest dividend financial stocks gave especially good returns to its investors in this period. On the other hand, the overall financial sector didn’t generally display spectacular performances in the past 12 months. Within the financial sector, there were underperforming industries such as Savings & Loans, in which the stocks generally performed worse than the overall market last year. We believe investing in the high dividend yielding stocks can still be beneficial for investors of such underperforming industries. In down markets, defensive investing in high dividend stocks... more