A Secret 6% Dividend Revealed

Merger and acquisition activity is lifting the bid for many consumer stocks. In the past few weeks, Fortune Brands (FO) said it would focus on its spirits business, including Jim Beam, and split off its consumer goods and sports products, making them ripe for acquisition. And an investor group headed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) is looking to unlock the value in Del Monte Brands (DLM), which it's acquiring for $5.3 billion. Manufacturers of consumer products weren't uniformly impacted by the recession, mostly because some make necessities as well as simple luxuries.... more

Allegheny Energy (ATE) Announces Dividend Plan

The Board of Directors of Allegheny Energy, Inc. (NYSE: AYE) has authorized a cash dividend on the company’s common stock. The timing and the amount of such dividend is dependent on whether the pending merger with FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is completed on or before March 14, 2011. If the proposed merger with FirstEnergy does not become effective on or before March 14, 2011, a dividend of $0.15 per outstanding share of common stock will be payable March 28, 2011 to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 14, 2011.... more

FirstEnergy (FE) Declares $0.55 Quarterly Dividend; 6% Yield

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today declared an unchanged quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, $2.20 annualized. FE also provided contingent dividend payment scenarios to reflect possible timing of the completion of FirstEnergy's pending merger with Allegheny Energy, Inc. (NYSE: AYE). Scenario #1: If the merger is not completed before the payment date of March 1, 2011, the full 55 cent-per-share dividend would be payable on March 1, 2011, to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 7, 2011. Ex-dividend is February 3, 2011. Scenario #2: If the merger is completed before March 1, 2011, FirstEnergy will pay two separate dividends that will total 55 cents per share. The timing and amount of these payments depend on the merger effective date. Scenario #3: If the... more

Colony Financial (CLNY) Declares $0.05 Special Dividend; 0.3% Yield

Colony Financial, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) has declared a special dividend for 2010 of $0.05 per common share. The special dividend will be paid on January 14, 2011 to stockholders of record on December 31, 2010. The ex-dividend date is December 29, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 0.3%.... more

Kearny Financial (KRNY) Approves $0.05 Per Share Quarterty Cash Dividend

Kearny Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: KRNY) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.05 per share to stockholders of record as of January 3, 2011 payable on January 21, 2011. The Company is the majority-owned subsidiary of Kearny MHC, a federally chartered mutual holding company, which owns 74.9% of the Company's outstanding shares.... more

Alliant Energy Corp. (LNT) Guides FY11 EPS Outlook; CapEx; Increases Annual Dividend 7.6% to $1.70

Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE: LNT) provides financial outlook. Sees FY11 operating EPS of $2.70 - $3.00 per share. Consensus sees an EPS of $2.87. Expected CapEx is $700 million. Alliant Energy is also announcing that its Board of Directors approved an increase in its 2011 expected annual common stock dividend target to $1.70 per share from the current annual dividend target of $1.58 per share. The dividend is a 7.6% increase.... more

Periodic Table of the Dividend Champions

David Fish has kindly given his blessing for me to slice and dice his Dividend Champions in various ways for further insight into dividend growth investing. The Dividend Champions are 98 stocks that have increased their dividend payout for 25 consecutive years or more. Actually, including Challengers and Contenders, the full document now includes stocks all the way down to those with 5-year streaks. This is a fabulous research tool for dividend-growth investors.Previous articles in this informal series are:... more

Long-Term Yield Contribution to Total Return Worldwide

Low bond yields and the prospect of bond losses as interest rates rise have put much attention on dividend stocks as an alternative source of investment income. How important has dividend income been to total return over the past 10 years? This article looks at yield return versus price return and total return in US Dollars for 36 countries/regions based on the MSCI BARRA indexes. As one might expect, when total return is low or negative, dividend yield is more important than when total return is high. A corollary to that is that when the stock markets languish or decline, high quality dividend stocks as a group generally tend to outperform (they go down with markets, but generally not so far or for so long), and when the stocks markets boom, high quality dividend stocks as a group... more

New York Mortgage Trust (NYMT) Declares $0.18 Quarterly Dividend; 10.7% Yield

New York Mortgage Trust, Inc. (Nasdaq: NYMT) announced today that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share, $0.72 annualized. The dividend is payable on January 25, 2011 to common stockholders of record as of December 30, 2010. The ex-dividend date is December 28, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 10.7%.... more

4 Dividend Stocks Showing You the Money

Dividend checks continue to get fatter in Corporate America, as more companies jack up their distribution rates. 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.... more