10 Dividend Stocks Paying More Cash

Payback is the amount of time needed for an investment to earn its cost, undiscounted. Though not very sophisticated, payback can still help you screen for good, solid dividend growth stocks. Once you earn back your investment, some might say you are in a no-lose situation. I wouldn't go quite that far, but you have found an investment that has provided you a good historical revenue stream, and hopefully it will continue to do so in the future.
Below are several dividend stocks that recently rewarded their shareholders with increased cash dividends:... more

Crunching the Data: Seven Big Pharmas With Consistent Dividends

Our "persistent, consistent dividends" filter identified 7 large pharmaceutical companies among the approximate 75 companies that have dividends of 3.5% or more, have paid dividends for at least 7 years without decreasing them, have sufficient current cash flow from operations to cover the dividend, and have at least $20,000 per minute in trading volume. Those 7 are: Bristol Myers (BMY) Abbott Labs (ABT) Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Novartis (NVS) AstraZeneca (AZN) Lilly (LLY) Merk (MRK). Let's look more deeply at those companies in terms of: valuation operating fundamentals total return and dividend growth best and worst performance periods and volatility price behavior analyst ratings.... more

6 Stocks With Dividend Yields Ranging From 8% to 15%

These companies pay dividends, in some cases very generous dividends of up to ~15%. In this low rate world, these stocks offer great alternatives to other investments. Furthermore, the dividends look to be safe with these companies as their earnings power per share indicates they are not at risk of a meaningful dividend cut. With the dividends looking solid here, it's possible these stocks could see appreciation as well. Here are the seven stocks: Annaly Capital Management, Inc., (NLY) is trading around $17.56. Annaly is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) company, based in New York. These shares have traded in a range between $14.09 to $18.54 in the last 52 weeks. The 50 day moving average is $17.28 and the 200 day moving average is $16.69. NLY is estimated to earn about... more

6 Oil and Gas Equities That Currently Yield Over 7%

In furtherance of my recent exploration for high yield opportunities, such as the top 10 yielding Dow Industrials and 8 American mid-caps yielding over 3%, this edition contains 6 American small-cap oil & gas equities that offer a yield of over 7%. Half of the six are paying over 8%. They are also all below $2 Billion in market capitalization in an industry where the select few, well-known giants often gobble the small guys up.Seven percent is nothing to sneeze at, especially when you consider that these stocks are dealing in oil & gas, and that higher oil prices tend to be a positive for petroleum explorers, drillers and sometimes even refiners (and vice-versa, of course, if petroleum prices go down). In fact, most of these companies have moved up quite a bit over the past two years,... more

10 Dividend Stocks for a Healthy and Wealthy Retirement

Americans are worried that they might not have enough money for retirement. Women who outlive their husbands are at special risk, with 40% of widows living almost exclusively on Social Security. There are a lot of worried retirees out there.According to WebMD excessive worrying can lead to suppression of the immune system, digestive disorders, muscle tension, short-term memory loss, premature coronary artery disease and heart attack. This isn't the way to spend our golden years. Here are some things we can do about it today for a healthy and wealthy retirement tomorrow. Have A Plan Many people are putting money into various retirement vehicles, but they haven’t taken the time to envision how it is all going to come together and ultimately if it will be enough. We often will spend... more

Don't Doom Your Dividend Portfolio

Putting all your eggs in one basket Often, investors who gravitate to dividend stocks are on the more conservative side of the investing spectrum. Unlike bold growth investors who prefer companies that reinvest every spare penny back into their businesses to grow as quickly as possible, dividend-seeking investors look at the tangible return of cash to shareholders on a regular basis as a safety net against rash corporate action or even outright fraud. In that sense, some associate dividend stocks with safety. But putting together a diversified portfolio of dividend stocks requires some forethought. Otherwise, it's easy to end up being overconcentrated in particular sectors of the market and owning stocks that will move in lockstep with each other -- for good or ill.... more

Dividend Scan: GE, TRV, AMGN, C, PPG, JNS, ELSE

Several companies declared their future dividend plans. Some notable dividend payers are discussed here. General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) raised its quarterly dividend by a penny to 15 cents per share. Shares of the company were down 1.96 percent, or 40 cents, to trade at $20. Shares of Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) added 2.62 percent, or $1.55, to trade at $60.68 as it declared a 14 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to 41 cents per share. Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN) shares lost 4.38 percent, or $2.46, to trade at $53.71 although it announced plans to pay a dividend in 2011 amounting to about 20 percent of its adjusted net income. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) plans to reinstall a nominal dividend of 1 cent per share. Shares of the company were down 0.55 percent, or 3... more

11 Stocks to Sell From Your Passive Income Dividend Portfolio

How many of us carry dead meat in our portfolios? I bet we all do to some extent right? I mean it’s always tempting to go after stocks that already offer a high dividend yield. So I did some more screening and came up with the worst of the worst: Weyerhaeuser Co (WY) Altria Group Inc (MO) Masco Corp (MAS) Nicor Inc (GAS) Sempra Energy (SRE) Northeast Utilities (NU) CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP) H&R Block Inc (HRB) NiSource Inc (NI) Constellation Energy Group Inc (CEG) Molson Coors Brewing Co (TAP) Why are these companies hard to sell and how did I come up with them? First off, I simply took all companies in the S&P500 that pay a dividend of 2% or more. From there, it was quite simple. Do any of these companies have sales declining by 5% (or more) on average over... more

Top Five Financial Sector Dividend Stocks

Historically, the financial sector has been one of the biggest dividend payers in the entire market. But the credit crisis really crushed the financial industry, and dividends were slashed almost everywhere. Now, financials are slowly beginning to raise their dividend payouts once again. As the sector regains its footing, I fully expect to see more companies raising their dividend in the coming quarters. Some companies are in a much better financial position to give back to the shareholders than others. Those who were hurt the most during the financial crisis, like Bank of America and Citigroup, are struggling to find the finds to pay a dividend of any kind. On the other hand, there are some financial names that got out of the credit crisis less damaged. Let's take a look at the top... more

Highest-Yielding Financials (You Might Actually Want to Buy)

What's more, reinvesting dividends acts as a "bear-market protector and return accelerator," according to Siegel. The extra shares purchased and accumulated at higher dividend yields during down periods act as a protector in falling markets, and these extra shares rising in value turn into a "return accelerator" when prices rise. As the recent economic crisis illustrated all too well, however, you can't buy just any high-yielding stock. Dividends that get cut or suspended entirely can wreak havoc on a stock price -- and thus, your portfolio.... more