Aon Corp. (AON) Declares $0.15 Quarterly Dividend; 1.7% Yield

Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) today announced that the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share, $0.60 annualized. The dividend is payable on August 16, 2010 to stockholders of record on August 2, 2010, with an ex-divided date of July 29, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 1.7%.... more

MicroFinancial Inc. (MFI) Declares $0.05 Quarterly Dividend; 5% Yield

MicroFinancial Incorporated (Nasdaq: MFI) announced today that the Board of Directors of MicroFinancial Incorporated declared a cash dividend of $0.05 per common share, $0.20 annualized. The dividend is payable on August 13, 2010, to holders of record of MFI common stock at the close of business on July 29, 2010. The ex-dividend date is July 27, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 5%.... more

Fidelity National Financial (FNF) Approves $0.18 Per Share Quarterly Cash Dividend - Annual Yield 5.43%

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share. The dividend will be payable September 30, 2010, to stockholders of record as of September 16, 2010. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. is a provider of title insurance, mortgage services, specialty insurance, and information services.... more

J. M. Smucker (SJM) Declares $0.40 Quarterly Dividend; 2.6% Yield

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) declared a $0.40 per common share dividend, $1.60 annualized. The dividend is to be paid on Wednesday, September 1, 2010, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Friday, August 13, 2010. The ex-dividend date is August 11, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 2.6%.... more

CMS Energy (CMS) Declares $0.15 Quarterly Dividend; 3.8% Yield

CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS) declares a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per common share, $0.60 annualized. The dividend is payable August 31, 2010 to shareholders of record on August 6, 2010. The ex-dividend date is August 4, 2010. Yield on the dividend is 3.8%.... more

American Medical Alert (AMAC) Declares $0.10 Special Dividend

American Medical Alert Corp. (Nasdaq: AMAC) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the payment of a special cash dividend of $0.10 per common share. The dividend will be paid on or about October 1, 2010 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 13, 2010. The ex-dividend date is September 9, 2010. Jack Rhian, AMAC's President and CEO stated: "We are pleased that, for the second time, we are able to issue a special cash dividend to shareholders. AMAC's strong cash flow and solid balance sheet provide us the financial flexibility to return significant cash to our shareholders while also providing the capacity to fuel our multi-pronged growth initiatives. We remain confident in the strength of the Company and are committed to increasing... more

Why Yield-Hungry Investors Are Turning to Utility ETFs

The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped back below 3% on Thursday, and when rates eventually rise, investors will start to loss some of their principal. This unappealing aspect of the markets has some investors looking at utility stocks and related ETFs for higher yield returns. Individual large utilities offer higher yields, but they are subject to individual equity risk, says iStockAnalyst. But, there are diversified utility ETFs that spread the risk and still provide 4% to 5% yields.... more

Walgreen, 11 Other Companies Raise Dividends

Twelve companies raised distributions last week. I have highlighted each company below with brief information as a starting point for further research. Stocks that raise distributions have managed to outperform the S&P 500 over the past four decades, which is one of the many reasons to consider them for my dividend portfolio.Walgreen Co. (WBA), together with its subsidiaries, operates a chain of drugstores in the United States. The company increased the quarterly dividend 27.3% to $0.175 per share, for the 35th consecutive year. Walgreen is a Dividend Aristocrat and yields 2.40%. (analysis)... more

Darden: Growth and Dividends Stay on the Menu

There aren’t many places you can get a 3% yield, dividends growing by big double-digits, a plan to increase earnings 10% to 15% annually and decent meals from a variety of leading restaurants - all from the same company. But Darden Restaurants (DRI), with about 1,800 casual dining eateries, is all that. The world’s largest company-owned and operated restaurant enterprise, DRI’s best-known brands include Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse. Its smaller, still emerging chains are Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52 and The Capital Grille.... more

Dividend Progress Report: Q2 2010

After each quarter-end I review my asset allocation and year-to-date total returns by category. The attached PDF contains my actual asset allocation as of 2010-Q2. Below is a high-level summary of the information contained in the PDF: Asset Allocation Actual Target Diff. Cash/Fixed Income 29.8% 28.0% 1.8% Equities-Domestic 38.6% 38.0% 0.6% Equities-International 23.4% 24.0% -0.6% Employer Equity 8.2% 10.0% -1.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Cash/Fixed Income 29.8% 28.0% 1.8% Large Cap. 47.2% 48.0% -0.8% Small/Mid Cap. 14.8% 14.0% 0.8% Employer Equity 8.2% 10.0% -1.8% Total 100.0% 100.0% Asset Allocation In the second quarter, my asset allocation was reasonably close to my target. What a difference a year makes. For so long, I was over-allocated in my... more