Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) Declares $0.10 Quarterly Dividend; 3.2% Yield

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: PEBO) today declared a cash dividend of $0.10 per common share, $0.40 annualized. The dividend is payable October 18, 2010, to common shareholders of record on October 4, 2010. The ex-dividend date is September 30, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 3.2%.... more

Will Other Tech Companies Follow Cisco's Lead by Paying Out Dividends?

When Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) last week announced that it would institute the first dividend in company history, it raised hopes among investors that hi-tech companies would finally begin to loosen the strings on their hefty cash holdings. But will other tech giants really follow suit and institute dividends of their own?... more

Pall Corporation (PLL) Approves $0.16 Per Share Quarterly Cash Dividend - Annual Yield 1.60%

Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) approved a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share. The dividend is payable on October 29, 2010 to shareholders of record as of October 8, 2010.... more

Is a Dividend Increase Necessarily a Buy Signal?

With so many companies raising their dividends this year, or in the case of a few, announcing first-time payouts, clients and subscribers have been wondering if these events are buy signals. For better or worse, the answer isn't a clear-cut "yes" or "no." That is especially true when it comes to companies that are announcing first-time dividends. Two fairly recent examples come to mind. In late 2009, oil services giant National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) announced its first quarterly dividend, 10 cents a share, to go along with a $1 special dividend. That gives the stock a yield of just 1%. But a year ago, NOV had $3.2 billion in free cash, so neither the quarterly nor the special dividend were too taxing for the company. Still, the performance of the stock following the dividend... more

Yield vs. Yield: Why Bonds and Dividend Stocks Are Not Intercheangable

Lately there have been a lot of commentaries making the argument that instead of buying fixed income for yield it makes more sense to buy equities for yield as bond substitutes. Whitney Tilson has used the example of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which is a client holding, in pointing out that the company recently issued 10-year paper at 2.95% with the common yielding what is now 3.49%. Tilson says it makes much more sense to buy the common for the potential price appreciation and the reasonable likelihood that the company will continue to increase the dividend which the company has done every year since 1752 (slight exaggeration).Carrying out the thought a little further, fixed income yields are at all time lows or close to it, while the S&P 500 is 27% below its 2007 peak and 25% below its... more

H&R Block: Why It Could Be a Value Trap Despite its Dividend

H&R Block (HRB) is a good example of why cheap dividend plays aren't always cheap.These types of plays have become more popular in the past two months, with equities offering their strongest yields in 15 years relative to bonds. And H&R Block is among the cheapest of the high-yielders. Its P/E is now 7.8 times, way lower than any of its peers, and far below the stock's historical average. It also scores in the top-decile of all North American stocks based on StarMine’s intrinsic value metric. North American stocks rose about 15 percent in the six months after they reached an intrinsic value score of 90 or above. Meanwhile, Block's stock is technically oversold, based on several oscillators. The added attraction is that HRB's dividend yield is 4.6 percent, far greater than any of its tax... more

Emerson Electric's Enviable 54 Year Streak of Higher Annual Dividends

Emerson Electric (EMR) was founded in 1890 and started working on becoming an S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat in 1956. 2010 is the 54th consecutive year that the annual dividend has been increased, a record very few companies can match. During that stretch, EPS increased in almost all years (I'm using a company graph as the source). There were 2 EPS setbacks in this decade (last year was the major one). But there were no setbacks in dividends. EMR is a diversified global technology company engaged in designing and supplying product technology with over 60 businesses that operate through 5 business segments.The recession in 2009 hit EMR very hard, worse than the company's most pessimistic scenarios. EPS declined 26% to $2.27 on a 16% decline in sales. In FY2010, the company is rebounding. Q3... more

My Personal Stock Picks or Who Benefits From Low Bond Yields?

All year I’ve advocated high-quality fixed income as opposed to stock. My own portfolio was over 80% bonds-the rest was in gold, gold stocks, mining stocks, Asian stocks, and various stores of value. At the opening Sept. 12, I made a big re-allocation to stocks.... more

NSTAR (NST) Declares $0.40 Quarterly Dividend; 4.2% Yield

NSTAR (NYSE: NST) announced today that its Board of Trustees declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per common share, $1.60 annualized. This is NSTAR’s 486th consecutive dividend, payable November 1, 2010 to shareholders of record October 8, 2010. The ex-dividend date is October 6, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 4.2%.... more

Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) Declares $0.275 Quarterly Dividend; 3% Yield

Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) today announced that the company's Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend on its capital stock of $0.275 per share, $1.10 annualized. The quarterly dividend is payable November 1, 2010 to shareowners of record at the close of business on October 12, 2010. The ex-dividend date is October 8, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 3%.... more