The Most Promising Dividends in Plastic Materials

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

9 Dividend Stocks on the Radar

A few weeks ago, I wrote about 9 dividend stocks that should do well in 2011. I went through each sector and picked 1 stock per sector. Why? Because we are all looking for asset diversification and each sector has good and bad moods. I don’t know if I’ll have time to analyze dividend stocks in the upcoming weeks but I thought of sharing all the numbers according to my dividend stock analysis template. So here are the 9 Dividend Stocks on my Radar: Ticker NUE T DRI JNJ Name Nucor Corp AT&T Inc Darden Restaurants Inc Johnson & Johnson Dividend Metrics Current Dividend Yield 3,29 ... more

Why Is the Fed Letting Banks Boost Dividends?

The news hit Friday that the Federal Reserve is allowing big banks to pay sharply higher dividends. I don't understand how the Fed justified that decision. And not just because the results of the so-called "stress tests" are secret. At least our four biggest banks are insolvent, Adam Levitin explains at the blog Credit Slips. The banks' balance sheets only come out in positive territory if home equity loans made during the bubble years are valued at much closer to their face value than good accounting or even common sense would dictate. First mortgages are apparently similarly overvalued. This isn't some fantasy of Levitin's, by the way: Paul Krugman and many other experts have described our banks -- big and small -- as "zombies" with fictional balance sheets. And it's not as if those... more

The Return Of Financial Dividends

The financial crisis of 2007-2009 was particularly painful to investors with an allocation to dividend rich financials. Not only did share prices collapse, but the dividend payments were slashed or eliminated as many financial institutions received funds from TARP. The big news Friday was that the federal government gave its blessing to several large institutions to finally raise distributions to shareholders. The institutions include US Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and State Street (STT). US Bancorp (USB) raised its quarterly distribution from 5 to 12.50 cents/share. This is still below the 42.50 cents/share payment that the bank was paying before the dividend cut. Yield: 1.80% Wells Fargo (WFC) raised its quarterly dividend from 5 to 12 cents/share.... more

4 Dividend Stocks Showing You the Money

Readers of the Income Investor newsletter can certainly appreciate that kind of thinking. Let's take a closer look at some of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week. Let's start with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) . The printing and computing giant boosted its quarterly dividend 50% to $0.12 a share. The tech giant also expressed its goal to deliver annual hikes in the double-digit percentage range in future years.... more

2011's Top Dividend Aristocrats

When searching for great dividend stocks, it makes a lot of sense to start with companies that have been playing the dividend game the longest. Standard & Poor's has culled the dividend winners from the also-rans in a list it calls the "Dividend Aristocrats." These companies have paid and increased their dividend for at least 25 years. Standard & Poor's announced its annual adjustment to the Dividend Aristocrats in December, so this is the latest version of the popular list. Below are the 25 highest-yielding constituents, and you can click on any of the green plus signs next to the ticker symbols to add those stocks to your watchlist and get all of our Foolish analysis on the stock.... more

Fed's Bank Dividend Approvals Should Help Stock Valuations

We wrote last January that in 2011 increased bank dividends would emerge as a new investment theme, one likely to push market valuations higher. We predicted that 7 of the largest 19 U.S. banks were likely to raise their common dividends, once the Federal Reserve completed its latest stress test of their capital sufficiency and reviewed their respective capital plans. On Friday, in the first easing of regulatory oversight since the financial panic of 2008, the Fed announced approvals that were more accommodative than we dared hope, to payouts (in combinations of dividends and stock repurchases) to about 30% of earnings, well above our expected 20%. Notably, it approved increased dividend requests of banks that have yet to repay their TARP obligations. Cumulatively, banks received... more

Dividend Boosts Keep Getting Bigger but Dividend Stocks Are Snoozing. Reason to Worry?

“In the short run the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.” Benjamin Graham Readers who’ve come across my old articles know I’m a diehard dividend-growth fan. Have been for over a decade. Will be until I find an easier way to make money, which I doubt will be anytime soon. And that brings us to lately. Lately, dividend-growth stocks are a snooze. Not because their dividends stopped growing. Nope. With high corporate profits and cash levels, but low interest rates and payout ratios, dividend boosts keep getting bigger and better. Despite that happy circumstance, dividend growers have been stuck in the slow lane, lagging the market by a mile recently. Don’t get me wrong, like many dividend-growth investors I can ride out fluctuating stock... more

9 Stocks Currently Raising Dividends

The financial crisis of 2007-2009 was particularly painful to investors with an allocation to dividend rich financials. Not only did share prices collapse, but the dividend payments were slashed or eliminated as many financial institutions received funds from TARP. The big news Friday was that the federal government gave its blessing to several large institutions to finally raise distributions to shareholders.The institutions include US Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and State Street (STT).US Bancorp (USB) raised its quarterly distribution from 5 to 12.50 cents/share. This is still below the 42.50 cents/share payment that the bank was paying before the dividend cut. Yield: 1.80%Wells Fargo (WFC) raised its quarterly dividend from 5 to 12 cents/share. The company... more

No Bargain: Walgreen's Low Dividend Yield

Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of Walgreen Co. (WBA). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis: Company Description: Walgreen Co. is the largest U.S. retail drug chain in terms of revenues, this company operates more than 8,000 drug stores throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description: Avg. High Yield Price 20-Year DCF Price Avg. P/E Price Graham Number WAG is trading at a discount to only 1.) above. The stock is trading at a slight discount to its calculated fair value of $42.98. WAG earned a Star in this section since it is trading at a fair value.... more