Focus on Dividends

Which of these high-yield dividend stocks is the better investment today? The beverage industry has long been fertile ground for dividend investors. Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Pepsi (NASDAQ:PEP) have delivered steadily rising cash payouts and solid total returns to investors for decades. And with each company's stock currently yielding about 3.5%, they remain popular options for income-focused investors. But which of these dividend stalwarts is the better buy now? Let's find out. Competitive positioning Coca-Cola and Pepsi dominate the $200 billion global soft drink and bottled water manufacturing industry. Recently, Coca-Cola has been gaining soda market share, with Coke Zero Sugar and Diet Coke enjoying solid sales gains in the first quarter. However, overall soda sales have declined steadily for much of the past decade -- a trend that's likely to continue for the foreseeable future. More and more people are turning away from high-sugar drinks, a

Must-have stocks are not always the flashiest. Instead, they provide essential services that never go out of fashion. The stock we have today is definitely not flashy. But it’s a stock to buy and hold for the rest of your life. After all, you’re not going to stop throwing out your trash any time soon. And neither is anybody else. That trash is this company’s treasure. We’re talking about the largest provider of waste management and residential recycling services in North America, with more than 21 million customers. If you’re reading this, there’s a decent chance you’re a customer too, even if you don’t know it. That’s exactly why this stock is worth your attention. While the rest of the market is busy speculating on the next tech gadget or miracle drug, this company keeps delivering steady gains. Those gains don’t just grow along with the trash we produce, but also on the company’s innovations – such as converting landfill gas into usable ene

Technology stocks have a tendency to be associated with growth stocks. High-flying tech stocks like Amazon (AMZN) or Netflix (NFLX) typically have lofty valuations, inconsistent profitability, and rarely pay dividends. As a result, the high-growth tech industry usually has little to offer value and dividend investors. But investors looking for reasonable valuations and dividend income do not have to avoid the tech industry altogether. There are a few high-quality tech stocks that have strong profits, modest valuations, and pay dividends to shareholders. For example, Intel Corporation (INTC) is a classic value and income stock. It has a cheap valuation and a solid dividend yield of 2.4%. And, like many of its tech peers, the company has a long runway of growth ahead. Business Overview Intel is the world’s largest semiconductor company. It has a market capitalization of $240 billion. It is a chip manufacturer, with a heavy presence in personal computers. This

If You Want to Collect Rising Dividends, Read This Most people have never heard of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW), but the company offers one of the safest growing income streams. Illinois Tool Works is a multi-industrial manufacturer. Headquartered in Glenview, Illinois, the company has been around for over a century. Today, ITW operates through seven business segments: “Automotive OEM,” “Test & Measurement Electronics,” “Food Equipment,” “Polymers & Fluids, Welding,” “Construction Products,” and “Specialty Products.” As a manufacturer of industrial products and equipment, Illinois Tool Works does not make headlines very often. What it does, though, is raise its dividends like clockwork. Consider this: Illinois Tool Works has increased its payout to shareholders in each of the last 52 years. That makes ITW stock a “dividend king,” which is a title only awarded to companies with at least five decades of consecutive annual dividend hikes.

Disposals: Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) EVP Sean E. Harper sold 1,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.71, for a total transaction of $298,457.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Sean E. Harper also recently made the following trade(s): -On Tuesday, June 12th, Sean E. Harper sold 1,525 shares of Amgen stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.27, for a total transaction of $281,011.75. -On Monday, May 14th, Sean E. Harper sold 1,525 shares of Amgen stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.10, for a total transaction of $265,502.50. Shares of Amgen opened at $194.88 on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Amgen, Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.31 and a 52-week high of $201.23. The company has a market capitalization of $129.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a price-t

Upgrades: United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) was upgraded by investment analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday, The Fly reports. UPS has been the subject of a number of other reports. ValuEngine cut United Parcel Service from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 2nd. Stephens reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $126.00 target price on shares of United Parcel Service in a research note on Monday, April 9th. Bank of America upgraded United Parcel Service from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of United Parcel Service in a research note on Tuesday, April 10th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their target price on United Parcel Service to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell

Is it possible to double your money – quickly – buying safe dividend stocks? You bet. Let me explain how… “Basic” income investors are enamored with higher current yields. These are OK for payouts today, but they’re not going to get us 100%+ gains. For triple-digit profits we must pay attention to the underrated dividend hike. These raises not only increase the yield on your initial investment, but they trigger stock price increases, too. For example, if a stock pays a 3% current yield and then hikes its payout by 10%, it’s unlikely that its stock price will stagnate for long. Investors will see the new 3.3% yield and buy more shares. They’ll drive the price up, and the yield back down – eventually towards 3%. This is why many Dividend Aristocrats don’t pay high current yields: Their prices just rise too fast. Just look at A.O. Smith (NYSE:AOS), which perpetually yields in the low 1% range. The low yield isn’t from a lack of dividend hikes – in fact, AOS keeps hikin

Drug companies are often considered defensive in nature due to their stable earnings, through good economies and bad. People with illnesses or diseases will likely seek out treatments to improve their quality of life, regardless of the condition of the economy. The high cost of life saving or improving medicines means that pharmaceutical companies often generate huge amounts of cash flow, which allows them to pay high dividend yields. Even in a recession, many of these companies are able to keep paying and raising dividends due to the large amount of cash on the balance sheet. For all these reasons, pharmaceutical stocks are strong candidates for a dividend growth portfolio.This article examines 11 of the largest pharmaceutical stocks in detail. All 11 stocks pay dividends, and can be found on our list of  203 dividend-paying healthcare stocks . The list is ranked by their total annual expected return over the next five years. Rankings are determined by expected

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to dividends. Deutsche Bank recently pointed out “the first half of 2018 has seen the sharpest underperformance of dividend stocks since the financial crisis”, as measured by the Dividend Aristocrats. Most readers are already familiar with this group of 53 names within the S&P 500 index, many paying out billions of dividends each quarter, with the most common trait being they’ve each boosted payouts a minimum of 25 consecutive years. However, another item several of the Aristocrats share in common, is that the Law of Large Numbers is catching up to them. They may be paying out more to investors each year, but as my colleague Brett Owens has often pointed out, it’s how much the dividend is growing that is the best predictor for building wealth over time. This is especially the case when interest rates are rising. An annual payout increase of a penny or two may produce a positive headline and keep you in the Aristocrat c

Upgrades: Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) was upgraded by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $48.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $42.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s price target indicates a potential upside of 0.13% from the stock’s current price. Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. ValuEngine lowered shares of Archer Daniels Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 2nd. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Archer Daniels Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 8th. Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Archer Daniels Midland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.30 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, March 12th. Citigro

High-yield dividend stocks typically play a vital role for investors planning for retirement. However, like many things in life, there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to income plays. Many of the highest-yielding dividend stocks are too good to be true. Their high yields simply reflect a higher risk profile and an unsustainable dividend that will be put on the chopping block in the future. For investors living off dividends in retirement, that’s a disaster just waiting to happen. As a result, conservative income investors would do well to steer clear of most stocks with dividend yields well above 6%. Today, we’ll review eight dividend stocks that sport a dividend yield of at least 8%. These companies maintained their payouts during the financial crisis, and they appear poised to continue delivering generous dividends over at least the short- to medium-term. To be clear, these are still “reach” candidates. They need to be approached with caution

I don't like all of Goldman's "buy" stocks here, but these 20 should do quite well Goldman Sachs rates a lot of stocks as “buy.” But recently, the equity research team at Goldman compiled a list of stocks within the company’s coverage universe that have the most potential upside to their price targets. The list is long (about 40 stocks), and Goldman pegs all of them as having roughly 30% or more upside to their price target. But combing through the list, I’m not a fan of all 40 stocks. Instead, I think about half of them are good buys here and now. Which ones are they? Let’s take a deeper look. Continue reading … In case you interested of stock analysis of other bloggers, click on link below: Analysis Collection

Welcome back to the Valuation Zone, where we hunt for well-valued dividend growth stocks hiding in the forest of stocks that sell on one market or another. This month’s stock is Starbucks (SBUX), the ubiquitous coffee seller. We last visited Starbucks almost a year ago, when it was our  Dividend Growth Stock of the Month  for September, 2017. Since that article, lots has happened at Starbucks. • It increased its dividend 20% last November. • Its yield has hopped up from 1.8% to 3.0%. • It was the site of the now-infamous incident in a Philadelphia store where two black men had the police called on them as they were waiting for a friend to arrive for a meeting. Starbucks later closed down all its American stores for an afternoon of diversity training. • Its former CEO, Howard Shultz, stepped down from the board. • Its CFO, Scott Maw, unexpectedly announced his retirement to take effect in November. • First-quarter results and guidance were disappointing.

Disposals: Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) insider Michael A. Bonarti sold 2,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.66, for a total value of $314,669.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 41,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,442,111.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . Shares of ADP traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $133.65. The company had a trading volume of 249,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,437,110. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Automatic Data Processing has a 52 week low of $100.51 and a 52 week high of $141.52. The stock has a market cap of $59.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.90. Read more … Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDA

Upgrades: Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) was upgraded by research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday. Separately, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Novo Nordisk A/S has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.00. Read more … Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $62.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $57.00. A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports

The Dividend Aristocrats are an elite group of 53 stocks that have at least one thing in common: They have raised their annual payout in at least each of the past 25 years, if not longer. But just because a company consistently raises its dividend doesn’t necessarily make it a compelling investing proposition. Market experts advise a further layer of research before diving into these “elite” dividend stocks. You should always check that the company holds up to scrutiny – this means an encouraging business outlook and strong fundamentals. That way you’re “covered” twice: You have an attractive income proposition that should only get better over time, and chances are if you ever want to sell, you can do so at a profit. We have used TipRanks’ market data to pinpoint the highest-rated Dividend Aristocrats right now. TipRanks scans the latest stock ratings from over 4,800 Wall Street analysts to be able to compile a list of stocks with the most Street support from analysts

If you buy a stock that eventually increases its dividend by 100% in the coming years, you’re going to double your money or better as that happens. Find a payout with 200%, 300% or even 500% upside? Then we have a secure way to total returns up to 500%. (We’ll discuss five generous payers in a minute, with price upside up to 500%.) Why does dividend growth matter so much more than earnings, sales or even cash flow growth? Well, we income investors buy a stock for one of three reasons: A meaningful current yield The potential for a higher yield-on-cost over time, and/or Price gains When these factors combine, they can create 100% price upside with a safe dividend payers. Share prices tend to rise in tandem with runaway dividends, as investors pay more for the now-higher yield. Got a dividend grower that’s cheap? Even better. It means that management can put its payout hikes on steroids by repurchasing its own bargain shares. (Look, there’s a reas

Buy these stocks for high, sustainable dividends The banking sector — and bank stocks — saw an intriguing reversal in the 21st century. For most of the latter 20th century, banks generally paid depositors a higher rate of interest than bank stocks paid in dividend yields. This trend reversed soon after the turn of the century and became more pronounced after the 2008 financial crisis. Beginning in the early 2000’s, interest-rate cuts gave bank stock investors dividend yields that exceeded the rates depositors earned in interest. Although interest rates have begun to gradually move higher in recent months, bank-deposit interest rates remain extremely low by any measure. Fortunately, some banks pay the 5+% returns comparable to bank and CD rates in the 20th century. These 5 stocks show that earning substantial cash payouts from banks remains possible — if investors take a chance on bank stocks. Continue reading … In case you interested of stock analy