Dividend Articles & Education

> Highest Dividend-Paying Telecommunications Stocks

Telecommunications companies are great cash flow generators and have high dividend yields compared to the rest of the market. The reason behind this is telecom companies generate huge cash revenues from wireless phone subscribers, data add-ons, text messaging, ringtone services, caller ID & voicemail, & lots more value-added products. Because of their enormous cash flows, telecommunication stocks have some of the safest dividend yields in the stock market. One factor investors should look at when investing in dividend stocks is the payout ratio. This is the total amount of net income that is paid to shareholders as dividends. This figure should not exceed 70% depending on the type of business. A 70% payout ratio means the company is paying 70% of its net income (almost 3/4 of its profit) to shareholders as dividends.

> Investing in S&P 500 High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index

The S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index is a method of measuring the 60 highest dividend paying stocks in the S&P Composite 1500 index & only lists those companies that have consistently raised their dividends in the last 25 years, without missing a single year. The advantage of investing in above-average dividend paying stocks is that the dividend yields serve as a downside protection in bear markets & typically outperform the broader S&P 500 index during bull markets because of recurring dividends. The S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats index lists companies not only from utility/telecommuncations sectors but across all sectors of the market including Technology, Restaurants, Pharmaceuticals & Agricultural Commodities.

> High Yield Technology Dividend-Paying Stocks

When it comes to high dividend paying stocks, the Sectors that come to mind are Utilities, Telecommunications, Oil & Gas energy, Consumer Staples. The technology sector really is known for its growth oriented stocks & lesser of dividend paying stocks. However, today we will screen for technology stocks that pay dividends greater than 2% and are also growth oriented. The best combination of buying stocks are those companies that are able to pay steady growing dividends & also grow their top line revenues/sales. This causes the stock price to appreciate in value bringing a nice capital gain for investors... (Read More)

> Highest Yielding Dividend Stock Champions

Dividends are a sure fire way of enhancing your portfolio by investing in dividend paying stocks. Even if your stocks go down in price, the income generated from dividends will offset those loses in the short term. Companies that have a track record of paying dividends for at least 10 years & also increasing them are the best way to invest. The best dividend paying companies have all of these characteristics:

i) Steady cash flows & a low dividend payout ratio

ii) Competitive advantages over their peers such as large distribution networks, cash moat, strong dedicated management, smart employees, best customer service & retention programs, etc.

iii) Geographic & international diversification. Did you know that McDonalds Corporation operates in 119 countries across 6 different continents? This is what we mean by geographic diversification.

> 5 International High Yielding Dividend Stocks to Consider for 2011

We at High Dividend Stocks website strive to bring to you the highest & best dividend paying stocks out there in the market. It's about time we diversified our sources and picked international companies that are trading as American Depositary Receipts on the New York stock exchange, Nasdaq, etc. The average dividend yield on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index is 1.8% which does not really beat inflation. Thus, we have to look at foreign sources of income, especially the MSCI EAFE Index which has an average dividend yield of 2.4%. MSCI EAFE Index is a collection of stocks from 21 developed countries outside of the United States & Canada. It is the oldest Index fund that measures performance of foreign stocks & was formed in 31 December 1969.

> Stocks that Pay High Dividends - Feb 2011 Edition

Recently upon the end of January 2011 & recent Egyptian crisis, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has reached its 12,000 points mark, the highest level seen since June 2008. Financial experts believe this is a sign where companies' profits are getting better, revenues are growing & the American economy is recovering. As mentioned in our recent 5 dividend stocks raising distributions, corporations are sitting on billions of dollars in cash reserves and ever since, the mergers & acquisitions market has taken off. However, investors are demanding companies such as Apple Inc. & Microsoft return value to shareholders in the form of higher dividend payments & share buybacks. In this article, we will outline stocks that pay high dividends & return value to shareholders in the form of share buybacks & growth of dividends.

> Dividend Analysis of Leggett & Platt, Inc. (Public, NYSE:LEG)

You might be surprised to know that Leggett & Platt, Inc. is one the oldest dividend paying companies trading on the New York stock exchange and currently has a dividend yield of 4.71%. Leggett & Platt is a diversified manufacturer that designs & produces a variety of engineered components found in almost every home, office, automobile or retail store. Examples of products include surface protection packaging, store fixtures including express racks, gondolas, showcases, slatwall fixtures, furniture fabrics such as dust covers, skirt linings, cushion wraps, adjustable beds, etc. What's interesting is that the company has created a 'subsidiary company' for each product line it sells, including its own website. To check out individual subsidiaries by product line, go here www.leggett.com/links.htm

> Top 10 Dividend Paying Stocks Owned by Warren Buffett

Knowing what the legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffet holds in his income producing portfolio stands to benefit you. He is known as the world's greatest investor ever, however what most people do not know is that most of his stocks pay dividends. Some of his top holdings generate high dividend yields that are crucial to weather a bear market & top your returns in a bull market with excellent cash flows. All companies owned by Warren Buffett are integrated in a holding company known as Berkshire Hathaway (Public, NYSE:BRK.A) whose shares currently trade at $122,475 rounded up.


> One Method of Finding an Undervalued Stock Market? By Dividend Paying Stocks

An interesting way to find out if the stock market is undervalued in today's economy or not is to compare the dividend yields on solid blue-chip or large cap companies with interest you could earn on US treasury bills such as the 10 year US treasury note, which currently yields about 2.87%. Let's compare this 2.87% yield to the dividend yields of several large cap firms. The top yielding stock in our narrow list is CenturyLink, Inc. which is a telecommunications company providing phone services to over 7 million subscribers in 33 states. Such companies usually have billions of dollars in cash and decent dividend payout ratios making their dividend yields very much safe.

> Top Dividend Paying Stocks in the S&P 500 Index

Many new investors start buying high yielding dividend stocks hoping to get double digit returns just by holding the stock; but the investing world is not as easy as that. Truth of the matter is very few companies can afford to pay out high dividend yields because of cash flowing in to other areas of the business including research & development, paying off debt, operating expenses, contingency liabilities & more. The only form of businesses that can afford to pay double digit yields are master limited partnerships or real estate investment trusts (REITs) that are by law required to pay out 90% of their net income to shareholders (to main their tax advantaged status). For this reason, we decided to screen for top dividend paying stocks in the S&P 500.

> 5 Tricks to Successful Dividend Investing

In a world of volatile stock markets, you cannot rely on capital growth as your primary means of increasing your net worth. Instead, focus on getting dividend payments from your stocks, and reinvesting those dividends back in to your holdings for compounding growth. Even a conservative strategy like this has gone through hoops, especially with 804 dividend payment cuts made in 2009 (according to the S&P 500). This massive cut cost investors a whopping $58 billion in cash lost. Why should you make dividend investing a part of your strategy? Because it is free money! Think of dividend paying stocks as investments that will put cash in your wallet, without you having to worry about market values going higher. According to value investor Benjamin Graham, this becomes especially true for those companies with tons of cash flows & little or no debt.

> Best Buy & Hold Dividend Paying Stocks

With hundreds of sophisticated stock trading tools available in the market, it is easy for investors to get carried away trading stocks rather than buying stable & growing business brands to hold for the long term. Upon the financial crisis of 2008/2009, investors doubted the idea of buy & hold and whether it was feasible during a bear market. Now since the market has recovered almost all its losses since then, investors have realized buy & hold still works. The most difficult part of buy & hold investing is sitting through bear stock markets & declines in returns while being fully invested. Instead of going through this, other investors would prefer selling their investments and minimizing their losses. This trend is also known as 'timing the market.'

> How to Invest in Canadian Bank Dividend Stocks

The first week of December 2010 is an earnings week for Canada's top 6 largest banks and it kicked off to a very good start with National Bank of Canada (Public, TSE:NA) announcing it is increasing its dividend yield on common shares from $0.62 to $0.66 per share, a whopping 6.45%. This increase goes in to effect after the first quarter January 31, 2011 payable on February 1, 2011 to shareholders of common shares on December 23, 2010. The company earned a net profit of $287-million in 4th quarter 2010 or $1.66 per share. This profit & dividend increase (the first time in 3 years for National Bank of Canada) signals the Canadian banking sector is very healthy & strong, as opposed to its US counterparts who are still facing difficulty re-organizing their mortgage backed loans & other credit products.

> Analyze Microsoft Corporation's (MSFT) Dividend Paying Stock

Trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange, Microsoft started paying dividends from January 16th, 2003 announcing 8 cents per share payout. Since then, the company has doubled its dividend to 16 cents per share that will be paid on December 9th, 2010 to shareholders on record as of November 18th, 2010. At today's stock price of $25.25, MSFT stock is yielding a decent 2.53% dividend yield. Is this sufficient enough for cash flow hungry investors? While there are certainly companies out there that pay a lot more in dividends (just look at any telecommunications company), it is important to realize Microsoft has grown its dividend yield by double digit growth rates for the past 7 years. As an example, since its last dividend payment of 13 cents a share in August 19th, 2010, Microsoft has increased its yield by 23% to 16 cents a share for this latest quarter. That growth is warranted for a company that is sitting on more than $44 billion in Cash & Short term investments versus only $9.6 billion in long term debt.

> 5 High Yield Dividend Stocks Raising Distributions

(January 19, 2011)

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) up more than 10% in the past 1 year, many corporations are sitting on billions of dollars in cash reserves & investors are demanding them to release a portion of this cash to shareholders. For instance, as of December 31st, 2010, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was sitting on $59.7 billion in Cash. That's a boatload of cash and if the company has no other products in its pipeline apart from the iPhone, iPad & Mac computers, it should return some of that cash to shareholders in the form of dividends. If & when Apple decides to pay a dividend, we will surely report it on this website.

> OptionsXPress Holdings Declares Huge Special Dividend

Internet based stocks & options brokerage firm OptionsXPress Holdings has declared a special dividend of $4.50 per share on Dec. 27 to shareholders of record on Dec. 13th, 2010. This announcement was made on November 29th, 2010 and as of today, the stock has already appreciated 12% in value! The announcement translates in to a one time special dividend yield of 26%! This is calculated by dividing $4.50 / $17.35 which was the closing stock price as of Nov 29/2010...