Last week was a great week to be a dividend investor. Not only did two of my top stocks declare fresh dividends, but both companies also raised those payouts. The ability to enjoy a rising dividend is one reason why I much prefer the income from my dividend stocks than the fixed rate I could be earning on a bond.
But not all dividend-paying stocks are equal. Some companies pay unsustainably high dividends, which is why it is important to double check the company's ability to actually pay its dividend, even if a raise would suggest investors have nothing to fear. With that in mind, let's drill down a bit deeper into the two companies that just gave me a raise.
A gushing of income growth
Oil and gas production company, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP ) , announced that it was providing investors with a 4.5% raise this week. The company's CEO, Ryan Lance, pointed out that "[a] compelling dividend is a key part of our offering to shareholders and this increase is aligned with our commitment to target consistent dividend growth over time." This is actually the first raise investors have seen in a while because the company has been in the process of a major three-year repositioning program in which it shed billions of dollars in assets, including its refining arm Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX ) .
Top 10 Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2015: Ingles Markets Incorporated(IMKTA)
Ingles Markets, Incorporated operates a supermarket chain in the southeast United States. Its supermarkets offer food products, including grocery, meat and dairy products, produce, frozen foods, and other perishables; and non-food products, such as fuel, pharmacy products, health and beauty care products, and general merchandise, as well as provides private label items. The company?s stores also offer products and services, such as home meal replacement items, delicatessens, bakeries, floral departments, video rental departments, and greeting cards, as well as a selection of organic, beverage, and health-related items. In addition, it engages in the fluid dairy processing and shopping center rental businesses. The company operates 203 supermarkets, including 74 in Georgia, 69 in North Carolina, 36 in South Carolina, 21 in Tennessee, 2 in Virginia, and 1 in Alabama. As of September 24, 2011, it operated 74 in-store pharmacies and 70 fuel centers; owned and operated 70 shop ping centers of which 58 contain an Ingles supermarket; and owned 94 additional properties that contain a free-standing Ingles store; and owned 13 undeveloped sites. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Ingles Markets (NASDAQ: IMKTA ) will release its quarterly report on Monday, and investors have been pleased to see shares of the regional grocery-store chain rise to levels not seen since before the financial crisis. Yet from its vantage in the Southeastern U.S., Ingles Markets has to be concerned about the impact that Kroger's (NYSE: KR ) proposed buyout of Harris Teeter (NYSE: HTSI ) might have on the competitive landscape in the region, with a potential threat to Ingles' future prospects looming over the company's stock.
Top 10 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Equity One Inc. (EQY)
Equity One, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the ownership, management, acquisition, renovation, and development of neighborhood and community shopping centers in the United States. Its shopping centers are anchored by supermarkets, drug stores, or discount retail store chains. As of December 31, 2006, the company?s property portfolio consisted of 179 properties, including 166 shopping centers, 6 development parcels, and 7 non-retail properties. As a REIT, Equity One would not be subject to federal tax to the extent that it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. The company was founded in 1992 and is based in North Miami Beach, Florida with an additional office in Israel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dividend King]
Equity One Inc. (EQY): Equity One Inc. is trading just under its 52-week high of $20.27. The stock issues an annual dividend of $0.88, has a yield of 4.40% and a payout ratio of 142%.
Top 10 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Invesco Plc(IVZ)
Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individuals, typically high net worth individuals. It also manages accounts for institutions. The firm manages separate client focused equity, fixed income, balanced portfolios. It also launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It invests in core, growth, and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap companies. The firm employs a fundamental and quantitative analysis with a bottom-up stock picking approach to make its investments. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. Invesco Ltd. was founded in December 1935 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sean Williams]
Investment management firm Invesco (NYSE: IVZ ) , which typically caters to high-net-worth individuals and offers a myriad of ETFs, rose 6.8% after reporting its first-quarter results. For the quarter, profits jumped nearly 15% to $0.49 per share as clients and investors flooded into its ETFs. Total cash inflows totaled $19.2 billion for the quarter -- a record for the company. It also didn't hurt that Invesco boosted its dividend by 30% to $0.225 per quarter. Even after today's move, at just 13 times forward earnings, there could still be room to run higher.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
What a difference a day makes. After plunging yesterday, stocks gained today as investors came to terms with the Federal Reserve’s revised schedule for higher rates, sending shares of Invesco (IVZ), Zions Bancorporation (ZION), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Charles Schwab (SCHW) soaring.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Lately, though, T. Rowe Price hasn't benefited as much from share-price gains. Competitor Invesco (NYSE: IVZ ) has managed to expand its margins and produce growth among its current lineup of funds, with exposure to a big range of markets that leaves it broadly placed to serve its customers' needs. But for T. Rowe Price and peer Federated Investors (NYSE: FII ) , investors haven't been putting as much money to work in their funds as analysts had expected to see, and that has led to some growth shortfalls. Federated in particular missed its earnings estimates in its most recent quarter, and analysts see growth there slowing to just 3%. T. Rowe Price has better prospects, retaining its double-digit revenue growth, but after a substantial move upward at the beginning of the year, its stock has treaded water.
Top 10 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Rowan Companies Inc.(RDC)
Rowan Companies, Inc. provides onshore and offshore oil and gas contract drilling services in the United States and internationally. The company offers its contract drilling services through its fleet of 28 self-elevating mobile offshore drilling platforms and 30 deep-well land drilling rigs. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Offshore drillers like Ensco (ESV), Seadrill (SDRL) and Rowan (RDC) are sinking today, but shares of Transocean (RIG) have managed to stay afloat.
AFPTransocean has gained 0.9% to $41.85 at 1:22 p.m. today, even as Ensco has fallen 1.3% to $50.89, Seadrill has plunged 3.1% to $34.87 and Rowan has dipped 0.8% to $30.89.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
This year started so badly for Seadrill (SDRL), Transocean (RIG) and Rowan (RDC) and other offshore drillers that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some investors are seeing value in their beaten down shares. The folks at Raymond James, however, see conditions at offshore drillers getting worse before they get better.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
As a result, Gerry cut Atwood Oceanics, Ensco (ESV) and Noble Energy (NE) to Market Perform from Outperform. He raised Rowan (RDC) to Outperform from Market Perform. Rowan was also a favorite of Barclays.
Top 10 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Northern Oil and Gas Inc.(NOG)
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas properties in the Williston Basin Bakken play, the United States. As of June 30, 2011, the company?s principal assets included approximately 158,046 net acres located in the northern region of the United States; and 439 gross wells. Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. is based in Wayzata, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt DiLallo]
4. Northern Oil & Gas (NYSEMKT: NOG )
Bakken-focused Northern Oil & Gas delivered oil production growth of 93.4% last year. The company spent about $485 million to drill a total of 48.3 net wells, which delivered that production growth. What's unique about Northern is that it typically just takes a small, non-operated stake in each well, as the company actually participated in the drilling of 563 gross wells last year. That spreads its risk, as one dry hole won't have much of an impact on its returns. The company plans to continue to grow its oil production this year, as it's currently working with its partners to drill 152 gross (12.2 net) wells to keep oil production growing.
Top 10 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: TechTarget Inc (TTGT)
TechTarget, Inc., incorporated on September 14, 1999, is a provider of specialized online content and brand advertising that brings together buyers and sellers of corporate information technology (IT) products. The Company sells customized marketing programs that enable IT vendors to reach corporate IT decision makers who are researching specific IT purchases. As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated a network of 115 Websites, each of which focuses on a specific IT sector, such as storage, security or networking. The Company�� content platform consists of a network of websites that it complement with targeted in-person events. On April 26, 2011 it announced that it had completed the acquisition of the Websites, product offerings, and events associated with Computer Weekly and MicroScope. In December 2012, the Company acquired the Websites and product offerings of LeMagIT.
Media Groups
The Company�� online properties in security sector, SearchSecurity.com, SearchCloudSecurity.com, SearchFinancialSecurity.com, SearchMidMarketSecurity.com and SearchSecurity.co.uk offer navigable and structured guides on IT vendor and technology solutions in key sub-sectors, such as network security, intrusion defense, identity management and authentication, data and application security, security-as-a-service, cloud security and security information management software. Its annual Financial Information Security Decisions conference anchors a calendar of topically-focused regional seminars on issues, such as compliance monitoring, data protection, and advanced threat management. Its networking market includes the hardware, software and services involved in the infrastructure and management of both enterprise and carrier voice and data networks.
The Company�� online properties in networking sector, SearchNetworking.com, SearchEnterpriseWAN.com, SearchUnifiedCommunications.com, SearchMobileComputing.com and SearchCloudProvider.com. The Company�� online properties in storag! e sector, SearchStorage.com, SearchDataBackup.com, SearchSMBStorage.com, SearchDisasterRecovery.com, SearchVirtualStorage.com, SearchCloudStorage.com, SearchSolidStateStorage.com and SearchStorage.co.uk address IT professionals seeking solutions in sub-sectors, such as fiber channel storage area network (SAN), solid state storage, virtualization Internet protocol (IP) and Internet small computer systems interface (iSCSI) SANs, network attached storage (NAS), backup hardware and software, and storage management software.
Data centers house the systems and components, such as servers, storage devices, routers and switches, utilized in large-scale, mission-critical computing environments. The Company�� online properties in this sector provide targeted information on the IT vendors, technologies and solutions that serve these sub-sectors. Its properties in this sector include SearchDataCenter.com, covering disaster recovery, power and cooling, mainframe and UNIX servers, systems management, and server consolidation; SearchEnterpriseLinux.com, focused on Linux migration and infrastructures; Search400.com, covering mid-range computing and SearchCloudComputing.com, which covers private and public cloud infrastructure. SearchServerVirtualization.com covers the decision points and alternatives for implementing server virtualization, while SearchVMware.com and RTFM-ed.co.uk focus on managing and building out virtual environments on the most widely-installed server virtualization platform.
The Company�� online properties in online properties in data centre and virtualization technologies include SearchWindowsServer.com, covering servers, storage, and systems management; SearchDomino.com, SearchExchange.com and SearchWinIT.com, each targeted toward senior management for distributed computing environments. This network of sites provides resources and advice to IT professionals pursuing solutions related to such topics as Windows backup and storage, server consolidation, and upgrade pla! nning. Se! archEnterpriseDesktop.com, SearchVirtualDesktop.com, BrianMadden.com and LabMice.net all focus on the deployment and management of end-user computing environments. The Company�� two BriForum conferences focus on desktop virtualization and related technologies.
The Company�� CIO/IT Strategy media group provides content targeted at Chief Information Officers (CIO), and senior IT executives, enabling them to make informed IT purchases throughout the critical stages of the purchase decision process. The Company�� online properties in this sector include SearchCIO.com, which provides CIOs in large enterprises with information focused on critical purchasing decisions; SearchCIO-Midmarket.com, which targets IT managers at small to medium-sized businesses, and SearchCompliance.com, which provides advice on IT-focused regulations and standards to IT and business executives and other senior IT managers. The CIO/IT Strategy Group also includes online resources and events targeted to IT decision makers in prominent vertical industries. SearchHealthIT.com provides strategic IT purchasing information and advice to senior IT and clinical professionals in hospitals, medical centers, university health centers and other care delivery organizations, as well as organizations in the life.
The Company�� Business Applications and Analytics media group focuses on mission critical software, such as databases and business intelligence, content management enterprise resource planning, and customer facing applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software for mid-sized and large companies. The properties in this sector include SearchCRM.com, BeyeNETWORK.com, SearchBusinessAnalytics.com, SearchDataManagement.com, SearchContentManagement.com, SearchOracle.com, SearchSAP.com and SearchManufacturingERP.com. These sites are online resources that provide this specialized information to support mission critical business applications, such as CRM, business intelligence, data management,! content ! management, collaboration, sales force automation, databases and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The SMB market supports a high degree of specialization by software vendors, as applications are offered that address the business requirements of specific industry verticals, such as construction, manufacturing, and many others.
The application architecture and development sector is consisted of a broad landscape of tools and languages that enable developers, architects and project managers to build, customize and integrate software for their businesses. The Company�� online properties in this sector include TheServerSide.com and TheServerSide.NET, which host independent communities of developers and architects using Java and .NET respectively.
Its Channel properties address the information needs of channel companies classified as resellers, value added resellers, solution providers, systems integrators, service providers, managed service providers, and consultants in the IT market. Its online properties in this sector include SearchITChannel.com, SearchStorageChannel.com, SearchSecurityChannel.com, SearchNetworkingChannel.com and SearchSystemsChannel.com. TechnologyGuide.com operates a portfolio of Internet content sites that provide product reviews, price comparisons and user forums for technology products, such as laptops, desktops and smartphones. Sites include NotebookReview.com, Brighthand.com (covering smartphones) and TabletPCReview.com, PrinterComparison.com, DesktopReview.com and DigitalCameraReview.com.
User Generated Content and Vendor Content
Bitpipe.com and KnowledgeStorm.com are sites that the Company operates and that host vendor-provided content, such as white papers, software downloads, videocasts and Webcasts. Maintaining centralized collections of this vendor content helps its users conduct pre-purchase research more easily, and allows it to maximize the ability of this content to be found by search engines. It provide! s context! ually relevant inclusion of vendor content from Bitpipe.com and KnowledgeStorm.com on the other sites in its network.
The Company competes with United Business Media, QuinStreet, International Data Group and CBS Interactive/ CNet.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Garrett Cook]
Technology shares fell around 0.27 percent in Thursday’s trading. Top decliners in the sector included TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT), down 8.9 percent, and ChinaCache International Holdings (NASDAQ: CCIH), off 4.6 percent.
- [By CNNMoney Staff]
What's moving: Target (TTGT) shares were under pressure after the retailer said 70 million individuals had information stolen in the recent data breach of credit and debit cards.
- [By Garrett Cook]
Technology shares fell around 0.27 percent in Thursday’s trading. Top decliners in the sector included TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT), down 5.3 percent, and ChinaCache International Holdings (NASDAQ: CCIH), off 2.11 percent.
Top 10 High Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: PCM Fund Inc (PCM)
PCM Fund, Inc. (the Fund), formerly PIMCO Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Inc., is a non-diversified, closed-end bond fund. The Fund's primary investment objective is to achieve current income by investing in a portfolio comprising primarily commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). These securities are fixed-income instruments representing an interest in mortgage loans on commercial real estate properties, such as office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, apartment buildings, nursing homes and industrial properties.
Capital gains from the disposition of investments are a secondary objective of the Fund. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing under normal circumstances at least 80% of its net assets plus the amount of borrowings for investment purposes in CMBS. Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) is the Fund's investment manager.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones]
Founded in 1986 by the legendary investor Bill Miller, Private Capital Management (PCM) is now owned by portfolio manager and CEO, Gregg Powers. He is widely-known for his research skill and has been a key driver at PCM since 1988.
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