Health Care (HCN) Declares $0.69 Quarterly Dividend; 5.6% Yield

Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE: HCN) announced today that its Board of Directors declared a cash dividend for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 of $0.69 per share, $2.76 annualized. The dividend is payable February 22, 2011, to stockholders of record on February 8, 2011. The ex-dividend date is February 4, 2011. Yield on the dividend is 5.6%.... more

J. M. Smucker (SJM) Increases Quarterly Dividend 10% to $0.44; Yields 2.8%; Authorizes Additional 5M Stock Buyback

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per common share, $1.76 annualized. The dividend is a 10% increase from the current rate of $0.40. The dividend is payable on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Friday, February 11, 2011. The ex-dividend date is February 9, 2011. Yield on the dividend is 2.8%. In other actions, the Board increased the Company's share repurchase authorization by five million common shares.... more

7 Service Dividend Stocks Getting Slammed

Contrarian investors should utilize times like this to differentiate between stocks that are dropping for fundamentally sound reasons -- and those stocks that are simply being dragged down because of general market concerns. Sure, there's plenty to worry about -- gigantic federal deficits, sovereign debt problems in Europe, an economic slowdown in China. But let's not forget that in the midst of all of this volatility lies the prospect to grab some great companies at dirt cheap prices. In particular, I'm a huge fan of dividend stocks. Renowned professor Jeremy Siegel has illustrated that from 1957 to 2003, when reinvesting dividends, the S&P's 100 highest-yielding stocks outperformed the market by an average of 3 percentage points. Over a long period of time, 3 percentage points can... more

Hawkins (HWKN) Declares $0.30 Semi-Annual Dividend; 1.6% Yield

Hawkins, Inc. (Nasdaq: HWKN), at its meeting on January 27, 2011, declared a semi-annual cash dividend of $0.30 per share, $0.60 annualized. The dividend is payable April 8, 2011, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 25, 2011. The ex-dividend date is March 23, 2011. Yield on the dividend is 1.6%.... more

How Foreign Dividend Stocks Can Cost You

With all the interest in dividend-paying stocks, it's only natural that investors have started looking beyond the borders of the U.S. to find promising ways to add to their income-producing portfolios. But before you start counting on reaping some of the juicy yields that foreign stocks offer, you need to understand how some fairly complicated tax provisions could have a big impact on your after-tax returns. Understanding foreign taxesInvesting in U.S. companies is simple from a tax standpoint. Each year, you receive dividends from the stocks you own, and if you own them in a regular taxable account, then you have to include those dividends on your tax return and pay income tax on them. If you receive dividends on stocks you hold within a tax-favored account like an IRA, then you don't... more

BancorpSouth (BXS) Cuts Quarterly Dividend to $0.1; Yields 3%

BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE: BXS) declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.11 per common share, $0.44 annualized. The dividend is a 50% decrease from the current rate of $0.22. The dividend is payable April 1, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 15, 2011. The ex-dividend date is March 11, 2011. Yield on the dividend is 3%.... more

Weis Markets (WMK) Declares $0.29 Quarterly Dividend; 2.9% Yield

Weis Markets, Inc.'s (NYSE: WMK) Board of Directors today declared a quarterly dividend of $0.29 per share, $1.16 annualized. The dividend is payable February 21, 2011, to shareholders of record as of February 7, 2011. The ex-dividend date is February 3, 2011. Yield on the dividend is 2.9%.... more

Southwest Airlines (LUV) Declares $0.0045 Quarterly Dividend; 0.1% Yield

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.0045 per share, $0.018 annualized. The dividend is payable March 24, 2011, to Shareholders of record at the close of business on March 3, 2011. The ex-dividend date is March 1, 2011. Yield on the dividend is 0.1%.... more

17 Rallying Stocks Raising Dividends

The following is a list of stocks in rally mode, i.e. trading above the 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages. All of the stocks mentioned below have a track record of raising dividends more aggressively than their competitors over the last five years. To control the quality of the list, we only focused on stocks with trailing 12 month payout ratios below 50% (to maximize the probability of finding companies that have the ability to keep paying their dividends).... more

Harte-Hanks (HHS) Raises Qtr. Dividend to 8c/Share, Yielding 2.43%

Harte-Hanks (NYSE: HHS) has just boosted its quarterly dividend payment by about 7% from 7.5 cents to 8 cents per common share. The dividend is payable on March 11 to shareholders of record on Feb. 25. The ex-dividend date is Feb. 23. The dividend yield moves from 2.27% to 2.43%.... more