Altria: Smoking Dividend, Stubby Growth

Altria Group (MO) consists of a number of entities, namely Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, John Middleton, Ste. Michell Wine Estates, and Philip Morris Capital Corporation. The company also owns a 27.3% interest in the world's second-largest brewer, SAB Miller (SBMRY.PK). Altria has been transformed over the past five years, spinning off packaged foods maker Kraft (KFT) in 2007 and then Philip Morris International (PM), the international cigarette business, in 2008. On the other hand, the firm acquired UST, the largest domestic maker of smokeless tobacco, in 2009, and John Middleton, which sells machine-made cigar brand Black & Mild, in 2007.Today, Altria is largely leveraged to the domestic U.S. market for cigarettes. Fortunately, this is a market the firm absolutely... more

Dividend Stock Analysis: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

I am always in search of a good dividend play when stock investing. Today, I would like to take a look at a REIT that I have covered quite a few times previously. I bought a position in the stock a few years ago and sold it off in November when shares looked expensive to me.... more

Building Yield: 15 Consumer Goods Dividend Stocks

Over the next several weeks I plan to look at different sectors that have traditionally been very friendly to dividend investors. Each of these sectors have attributes that make the companies in them potentially desirable to long-term buy-and-hold dividend growth investors. Understanding these attributes will hopefully help us to select the very best companies for our income portfolios. First up the Consumer Goods Sector…Consumer Goods AttributesDemand for household and personal care products is generally stable and not affected by changes in the economy or other factors. There are certain things people will continue to purchase no matter how bad the economy gets. If you lose your job, you probably won’t stop bathing, washing your clothes, brushing your teeth or stop buying toilet... more

ScotiaBank Dividend Stock Analysis

Recently I had a few minutes to gather all the necessary information to analyze what could be my next move: ScotiaBank (BNS).I guess you know of my love for Canadian banks by now. The Big 6 (Royal Bank (RY), TD Bank (TD), ScotiaBank, CIBC (CM), Bank of Montreal (BMO) and National Bank (NTIOF.PK)) are solid companies evolving in a sector that is both solid and is heavily protected by the government: Canadian financial institutions. To be honest, I think that that if you buy any Canadian bank, you are making a good deal. In this dividend stock analysis, I’ll tell you why BNS is my pick.... more

21 Dividend Stock that pay 5% Annually and Have Grown Over 50% in Last 11 Years

Imagine owning an ETF that pays a 5% dividend each year, has grown by more than 50% over the last 11 years and is 100% invested in S&P 500 stocks? Below is a list of 21 S&P 500 stocks that all currently pay a dividend over 5% and as a group are up by 66% over the 11 years. This is not a perfectly balanced and diversified portfolio of stocks and I am not recommending anyone go out and buy these stocks. However, if you owned the SPY (SPDR S&P500) over the last 10 years, you are flat and have basically zero return. Even most bank savings accounts, CD's and Treasuries have done better over the last 10 years than the SPY. I am a big believer in the Sharpe Ratio that basically says, "With increased risk you must expect greater returns!" The SPY has great risk in a market downturn, look only... more

Dividend Champions Smackdown X: The Book Value Edition

Dividend Champions Smackdown X In previous installments of the Smackdown series, I screened the Dividend Champions list of companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years (which can be found here) using factors such as yield, payout ratio, and, most recently, market capitalization (focusing on Small- and Mid-Caps).... more

PIMCO Corporate Opportunity Fund: One Stellar, Sustainable Yield

As a value investor, I enjoy picking stocks. I enjoy the process of selecting companies that I feel the market has temporarily mis-priced. With that said, I do select a fair amount of funds for my portfolio as well. I have found that using exchange-traded funds provides needed diversification and exposure to otherwise unreachable segments of the market. Traditionally, I have not been a big fan of closed-end funds. They typically trade at low volumes, thereby creating liquidity issues. They often trade at a distant premium to net-asset value (NAV). Recently, though, I have found a closed-end fund that I can get behind. I came across the fund in Barron's 2011 Roundtable (part 2); All Over The Map, January 22nd. The Pimco Corporate Opportunity Fund (PTY) is managed by Bill Gross, Founder and... more

Four Pharma Stocks With Appealing Value, Dividend Yield

Income is pretty hard to come by these days and I get very worried when I see investors taking huge risks in order to get decent dividend yields by investing in inferior stocks. So I have decided to use my Statistical Indicator Analysis (SIA) method to pick what I consider four very safe and well managed companies, which I have also prescreened as strong free cash flow generators as well. The Pharmaceutical sector is where I believe investors can find great dividend yields at bargain bin prices. For those new to SIA here is an introductory article explaining how it works.... more

3 High Yield REITs: High Return or High Risk?

Investors seeking income are often attracted to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) because they normally have higher than average dividend yields. With interest rates on fixed income vehicles near record lows, it's only logical that these same investors seeking income would be even more motivated to look to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Although Real Estate Investment Trusts do not possess the same characteristics as operating companies that are found on the various stock exchanges, most REITs can be thought of as equity investments in contrast to debt instruments. In essence, REITs are to real estate what common stocks are to operating companies.Even though the first two letters of REIT stand for real estate, not all REITs invest in real estate. In addition to real estate... more

Are Institutional Investors Becoming Impatient With Dividend ETFs?

The stampeding stock bull has hushed the naysayers. Pullbacks have been short-lived. And popular benchmarks like the S&P 500, the Dow as well as the Nasdaq have nearly gone vertical. Equally intriguing, some advisors appear to be abandoning their asset allocation. Consider the case of the $5.3 billion dollar SPDR S&P Dividend Fund (SDY). On Tuesday, February 1, anxious institutional investors dumped more than $316,000 worth of shares in block trading on 8x the normal trading volume.... more