10 Highest Rated, High Yield Dividend Champions

I write extensively on the US Dividend Champion list maintained and updated by DRIP Investing. The list is comprised of stocks which have increased their dividend payout for at least 25 consecutive years. My initial Dividend Champion articles on Scott's Investments focused on one or two company metrics, such as payout ratio, yield, or past performance. However, more recently I have begun to combine multiple metrics to create an overall quantitative ranking for stocks in the list. This article uses a simple quantitative system which combines multiple metrics to give an "overall" rank of the stocks within the February US Dividend Champion list.This ranking system combines Dividend Yield, Payout Ratio, Forward Price/Earnings, 6 month price momentum, and 1 month volatility. I required the... more

Top 8 Dividend Champions With Conservative Accounting Practices

Income-oriented investors might find the following list interesting. Here is a list of “dividend champions,” identified by the DrIP Investing Resource Center as companies that have increased dividends for more than 25 consecutive years. Among the entire list of dividend champions, we found only those that have conservative accounting practices, according to the ratings developed by forensic accounting firm Audit Integrity.Audit Integrity reports the Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR) rating – it is a forensic measure of the transparency and reliability of a corporation’s financial reporting and governance practices. The closer the score is to 100, the more conservative the company's accounting practices, according to Audit Integrity.Considering that these companies have a... more

23 Stocks With a Vision of Higher Dividends

To succeed as a dividend growth investor you must identify and purchase stocks with sustainable dividend growth. Inertia is powerful force. Once a company has established a track record of growing its dividend over the decades and developed a shareholder base that expects higher dividends each year, it becomes increasing difficult for management to cut or fail to raise their dividend. No CEO of this type of company wants a dividend cut to occur on his or her watch. Here are a few select companies that have recently followed through on their vision of providing increased cash dividends to their shareholders:Gap Inc. (GPS) operates as a specialty retailing company. February 24th the company increased its quarterly dividend 13% to $0.1125/share. The dividend is payable on or after April... more

Frontier Communications - Is the Dividend Safe?

Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR) was founded in 1935 as Citizens Utilities and became a pure-play telecom network operator in 2004. Frontier announced a deal with Verizon Communications (VZ) in May 2009. Frontier acquired approximately 4.8 million access lines from Verizon, tripling the size of the company. The Verizon properties were packaged into an entity called SpinCo and merged with FTR. The all-stock transaction was valued at approximately $8.6 billion and closed July 1, 2010. The transaction created the nation’s fifth largest incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) operating in 27 states. The dividend was cut from $1.00 to $0.75 upon closing. The yield is 9% based on the February 24, 2011 closing price. So is the dividend safe? We’ll look at what management envisioned when... more

6 Stocks Going Ex-Dividend the First Week of March

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, you have to be extremely careful. In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable Excel list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps... more

Dividend Scan: KSS, MGA, CME, JWN, ESS, GPC, DUF, RNR, WR

Disappointing new home sales data and escalating tensions in Libya and MENA region pushed the US stocks to a negative territory during the mid-day trading. Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped to 12,075.41, down 0.25 percent or 30.47 points, and the Standard and Poor's 500 lost 0.11 percent or 1.46 points to 1,305.94. However, Nasdaq Composite added 0.26 percent or 7.17 points to 2,730.16. Amid fluctuating market environment, several companies declared their annual and quarterly dividends. Some notable dividend payers are discussed here. Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS) added 2.17 percent or $1.41 to $53.43 as it declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share. Magna International Inc. (NYSE: MGA) raised its dividend by 39 percent to 25 cents per share. Shares of Magna were... more

Dividend Report Card: Verizon

In this series, we analyze financial metrics to begin answering the following questions about a company's dividend: Over time, has this company steadily increased its payouts? How sustainable is the dividend? Does the company have room to further increase the dividend? 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.... more

9 (Mostly Dividend) Stocks With Recent CEO Buys of Over $100,000

This week’s list of CEO purchases focuses on those CEOs who have purchased at least $100,000 of stock in their own company on the open market in the past week or so. These are significant purchases and may indicate a coming catalyst and confidence in the company.As I’ve mentioned before, I think companies with recent insider purchases are great places to find stocks worth researching and I prefer CEO purchases over director purchases because you know that CEOs are closer to every day issues. Below are nine stocks where the CEO has recently purchased at least $100,000 of company stock: Lorillard (LO): Lorillard is an interesting stock. It had been driven down because of the regulatory threat of a menthol ban, which is a cause for... more

BDCs Still Offer Price Appreciation Potential for Dividend Stock Investors

An examination of the charts of many Business Development Companies (BDCs) reveals enormous price appreciation since March 2009. The industry had a near-death experience as Allied Capital (AFC) was subjected to a widely publicized short attack and many BDCs had to write down assets and as a result got into ratio problems and covenant violation problems with lenders. Fortunately, no BDCs actually went into chapter 11. There were a couple of takeovers and there have been some secondary offerings at less than book value, but investors with patience have been generously rewarded. It is not hard to find examples of BDCs that are up more than 500% from the early 2009 bottom. American Capital, Ltd. (ACAS) and MCG Capital Corporation (MCGC) are two that come to mind. Most BDCs are generating... more

Dividend Scan: WLP, THI, TJX, GPC, BKS, PTNR, BGS, PKG, KBR, FUND, AAN, RNST

Escalating political crisis in Libya and the Middle East has put the US market on a back-foot during the mid-day trading. Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.27 percent or 29.33 points to 12,183.46, and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.55 percent or 15.39 points to 2,741.02. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 0.15 percent or 2.02 points to 1,313.50. Amid MENA crisis, several companies declared their annual and quarterly dividends. Some notable dividend payers are discussed here. WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share, $1 on an annual basis. Shares of the company added 0.28 percent or $0.16 to $65.50. Tim Hortons Inc. (NYSE: THI) has decided to increase its quarterly dividend by 31 percent to 17 Canadian cents per share. THI gained 0.62 percent or... more