These 10 Dow Components Currently Yield 3% or More

Many investors have been craving higher yielding investments lately, and for various reasons. The interest rate most banks now offer for cash and CDs is next to nothing, as are short term U.S. Treasuries. Intermediate Treasuries aren’t much better and according to the Department of the Treasury’s daily yield curve rates, you have to buy a 10-year Treasury security to receive a yield above 3%, though the 7-year notes may soon go above 3%. Worse yet, U.S. debt is being downgraded as I type. As a result, many investors are avoiding the bond markets, until we finally enter a higher rate environment, avoiding potential depreciation, and looking for stable equities that can fill the fixed income portion of their portfolio. There are literally thousands dividend paying equities and funds (of... more

Highest-Yielding Tech Stocks You'd Actually Want to Own

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. And since today we're dealing with relatively low-yielding/high-volatility tech stocks, we have to be on our toes.... more

You Should Own These 7 Dividend Triplers

Why you need dividends Early in your investing career, you may not care so much about whether your stocks pay dividends. That's because for the most part, you're going to take whatever money your investments generate and plow it back into your portfolio by adding more shares of stock. In that light, dividends can actually seem like a bad thing because they generate tax liability if you own them outside a tax-sheltered retirement account like an IRA. Eventually, though, you're going to need your investments to start helping you pay your way with living expenses and other financial needs. Rather than focusing solely on growth as you did for decades, you suddenly need to think about how to draw income from your assets.... more

One Huge Dividend Play

CVR Partners owns and operates a nitrogen fertilizer business based in Coffeyville, Kansas. According to the company, it's the only nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing operation in North America that uses a petroleum coke gasification process to produce its fertilizer. The company is moving ahead with a two-year plant expansion that will increase its production of urea ammonium nitrate by 50% per year. The company also produces lower-margin ammonia. CVR Partners sells its products primarily in the higher-margin agricultural market, whereas competitors such as PotashCorp (NYSE: POT ) , Agrium, and Yara make substantial sales of non-nitrogen fertilizers to the lower-margin industrial sector. Because nitrogen must be added to crops each year, such fertilizers provide more stable demand... more

4 High Yielding European Blue Chip Stocks Worth a Look

Monday’s market brought a reminder on how volatile the markets can be and gives a preview of the increasing turbulence I expect to see over the summer in equities. Yesterday’s trigger was S&P’s announcement of a possible future downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt if we do not get serious about our fiscal problems. Other major concerns out there are rising inflation and gas prices, continued Middle Eastern turmoil, a slowdown in Japan’s growth and the negative impact to the supply chain due to the tragedies there, growing European debt issues, the coming end of QE2 and a growing Chinese property bubble; just for starters. Given all the current news flow, I am extremely cautious here. I am keeping a decent amount of my portfolio in cash and some other assets in the TBT ETF, as I... 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 iron ore. The ore is mined by Northshore Mining, a subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF ) . Shares have been falling after the firm announced last week that its first quarter distribution will be more than 50% lower than last year's and could present a buying opportunity if the stock falls further. The drop in dividend really should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has been reading the writings of James Duade, an... more

The Most Promising Dividends in Gas Utilities

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

Defensive Ideas: 9 High Dividend Utilities With Conservative Accounting Risk

When considering whether a company’s dividend is reliable, one area to look is the company’s accounting risk. A company’s accounting decisions can cause reported performance to significantly deviate from economic reality, which can mask problems that would otherwise signal a dividend in trouble. With this in mind, we wanted to find a list of utility stocks with high dividend yields (between 4-7%) and conservative accounting risk. To measure accounting risk, we used the forensic accounting firm Audit Integrity’s Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR) score. Scores closer to 100 indicate conservative accounting risk. After we screened utility stocks for high yields and high AGR scores, a final list of 9 emerged. Do you think these dividends are sustainable? Use this list as a... more

Top 15 Most Undervalued High Dividend Stocks by Analyst Target Price

If you're interested in dividend ideas, the following list might be of interest to you.To compile this list, we look for stocks with the following characteristics: Market cap > $300M Dividend yield > 4% Undervalued vs. analysts’ target price (used as a proxy for fair value), with upside between 10%-40% Click on all images to expand : Although this is a very basic way to find undervalued companies, it can be a very valuable starting point for your own analysis.Which of these stocks do you want to add to your watch list?1. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE): Entertainment Industry. Market cap of $837.51M. Dividend yield at 12.73%. According to analysts' estimates this stock has a 40.0% upside, when comparing the current price $11.25 vs. their target price of $15.75. The... more

Dividend Scan: EDR, CFNL, DHT, CVS, SJR

Amidst the downward swing of the U.S. market, a few companies declared their future dividend plans. Some notable dividend payers are highlighted here. Education Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: EDR) announced a quarterly cash dividend of 5 cents per common stock, payable on May 17, 2011 to shareholders of record on March 31, 2011. Shares of the company slipped 1.33 percent, or 11 cents, to trade at $8.18. Shares of Cardinal Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: CFNL) lost 1.45 percent, or 16 cents, to trade at $10.87 despite declaring a quarterly cash dividend of 3 cents per share. The dividend is payable on May 16, 2011 to shareholders of record on May 2, 2011. DHT Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DHT) announced a cash dividend of 10 cents per share, payable on May 9, 2011 to shareholders of record on April 29,... more