Dividends

National Bank of Canada Posts 6% Rise In FQ2 Operating Profit, Lifts Dividend

Lisa Levin — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:25:07 +0000

National Bank of Canada (OTC: NTIOF) reported a 6% rise in its fiscal second-quarter operating profit and raised its quarterly dividend by 5%.

The bank's quarterly profit from ongoing operations jumped ...

These ETFs Could Surge if MSCI Obliges

ETF Professor — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:36:34 +0000

On June 11, index provider MSCI (NYSE: MSCI) will announce its annual market reclassification review. Results of that review will be significant for investors in scores of emerging and frontier markets equities and ETFs.

South Korea and Taiwan are still under consideration for a promotion to developed market status, which if that promotion happens, should move the iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund (NYSE: EWY) and iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (NYSE: EWT) among other emerging markets ETFs.

Given MSCI's history of not upgrading those countries to developed market status, investors may not want to bet on the promotion happening. However, some other ETFs that have recently been bullish performers have a chance to extend those gains if MSCI obliges.

The obliging would come in the form of MSCI upgrading Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to emerging markets status from their current designation as frontier markets. Some investors believe the move should have already happened.

"I see no reason why they shouldn't be upgraded and don't understand why they haven't ...

LyondellBasell Announces it Will Buyback 10% of Shares Outstanding; Will Increase Dividend by 25% to $0.50

Eddie Staley — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:01:14 +0000

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB) today announced that at its Annual General Meeting, shareholders approved a proposal to authorize the company to repurchase up to 10 percent of the company's outstanding stock. As a result, the Supervisory Board has approved a share repurchase program of up to 10 percent of the company's shares over the next 12 months. The repurchases will be executed from time to time through open market or privately negotiated transactions.

The Supervisory Board also authorized the company's Management Board to declare an interim dividend of $0.50 per share, representing an increase of 25 percent to the company's first quarter 2013 interim dividend. The increased interim dividend will be paid June 24, 2013 to shareholders of record on June 3, 2013, subject to the adoption of a resolution by the Management Board, which is expected to occur June 3.

"The 10 percent share repurchase program and the significant increase in the regular interim dividend is reflective of our outlook, capital growth ...

Apple Tops New WisdomTree Dividend ETF

ETF Professor — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:08:54 +0000

Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) new status as a dividend stock is, no pun intended, bearing fruit. At least at the new ETF level.

The WisdomTree U.S. Dividend Growth Fund (NASDAQ: DGRW), which debuted today, features the iPad maker as its largest holding with a weight of 4.71 percent.

Aside from making for good headlines, such as the one on this article, Apple's ascent to the top of any dividend ETF is a sign of a growing theme in the dividend ETF space. That being the move toward those funds that focus on weighting metrics beyond length of dividend increase streaks.

"Investors are hungry for income in this low interest rate, low yield environment," said WisdomTree Research Director Jeremy Schwartz in a statement. "Rather than relying on historical records of dividend increases, DGRW uses real-time growth and quality metrics focused on companies who are growing their dividends."

Part of the focus on stocks that are showing favorable dividend growth going forward includes the WisdomTree U.S. Dividend Growth Fund allocating over 20 percent of its weight to the technology sector, the sector currently leading the market's dividend growth. ...

UPDATE: Flowers Foods Announces 3-for-2 Stock Split, Raises Qtr. Dividend to $0.1125/Share Split Adjusted

Paul Quintaro — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:42:07 +0000

Prior to the Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) annual shareholders meeting today, the company's board of directors declared a three-for-two split of the company's stock by means of a 50% stock dividend and also increased the annual cash dividend by $.035. This equates to a 5.5% increase over the previous dividend rate. Both the stock split and the dividend are payable on June 19, 2013, to shareholders of record on June 5, ...

The Mystery Irish Loophole that Landed Apple in Hot Water

Tim Parker — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:30:44 +0000

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) found itself in unfamiliar territory on Tuesday.

CEO Tim Cook was sitting in front of a congressional subcommittee spilling the beans about its offshore operations. Who had ever heard of these three “subsidiaries”, Apple Operations International (AOI), Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE)?

The answer is, pretty much nobody until a congressional probe uncovered the entities. As Senator John McCain said, "It is important to understand Apple's byzantine tax structure so that we can effectively close the loopholes utilized by many US multinational companies, particularly in this era of sequestration,"

McCain, in his use of the word, “Byzantine”, was claiming that there is devious action but didn’t claim any illegal activity. Confused by all of this? Here’s the short explanation.

Ireland, with its population of 4.6 million isn’t exactly a world powerhouse with more tax revenue than it knows what to do with. It’s not a Germany, Japan, or United States where it attracts the big revenue producing corporate giants either.

What ...

SSE Posts Higher Full-Year Profit, Lifts Dividend

Monica Gerson — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:07:38 +0000

SSE PLC (OTC: SSEZY) posted a rise in its full-year headline profits.

SSE's headline profit for the period surged to 1.41 billion pounds ($2.14 billion). ...

Stocks To Watch For May 22, 2013

Monica Gerson — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:25:32 +0000

Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:

Wall Street expects Lowe's Companies (NYSE: LOW) to report its Q1 earnings at $0.51 per share on revenue of $13.46 billion. Lowe's shares rose 0.47% to $42.65 in after-hours trading.

Saks (NYSE: SKS) has hired Goldman Sachs to explore strategic alternatives including a sale, the New York Post reported. Saks shares jumped 19.39% to $16.32 in the after-hours trading session.

Analysts are expecting Staples (NASDAQ:

Three Surprising Sources of Global ETF Yield

ETF Professor — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:40:34 +0000

Today's low interest rate environment has sent investors scurrying for yield across myriad asset classes. Whether it is with traditional dividend stocks, multi-asset products or bank loan and junk bond ETFs, investors have an increasing array of choices with which to generate income.

International equities, both developed and emerging markets, also represent an integral part of the dividend equation.

Select developed market companies in sectors such as energy and telecommunications often feature higher dividend yields than their U.S. counterparts while many emerging markets firms have been upping their status as dividend-payers.

With that in mind, here are a few surprising sources of international dividend yield that ETF investors may not currently be considering.

db X-trackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity Fund (NYSE: DBEF)
Due in large part to the success of the two hedged yen ETFs, currency hedged ETFs have spent some time in the spotlight this year. The db X-trackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity Fund is another name that is worthy of a place in that conversation.

DBEF, which has surged almost 14 percent in the past 90 days, is essentially the hedged currency version of the iShares ...

JP Morgan Declares $0.30/Share Qtr. Dividend, Offers Results of Prelim. Votes at Annual Holders Meeting

Paul Quintaro — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:31:24 +0000

The Board of Directors of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) today declared a quarterly dividend of 38 cents per share on the outstanding shares of the corporation's common stock, an increase from the prior quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share. The dividend is payable on July 31, 2013, to stockholders of record at the close of business on July 5, 2013.

At the annual meeting of shareholders held today, the Company announced preliminary results of the shareholder vote on five management proposals and four shareholder proposals. All ...

Bernstein Sees Deal Between Vodafone, Verizon Unlikely, Says Recent Mgmt Comments Suggest Verizon Could Withhold Dividends

Paul Quintaro — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:27:56 +0000

Bernstein's Robin Bienenstock issued a note Tuesday morning suggesting a deal by Vodafone (NASDAQ: VOD) to sell its Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) stake is "highly ...

The Top 10 Notable Quotes from Apple's Senate Statement

Tim Parker — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:35:53 +0000

On Tuesday, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook will testify before a Senate subcommittee.

According to Reuters, on Monday, the subcommittee released a 40 page memorandum that claims to have identified three Irish subsidiaries that have no tax residency in Ireland and have paid no corporate income taxes in the last five years.

In it’s prepared statement that will be read at the hearing on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook will address this and other accusations and make the case that Apple follows US tax laws, has created more than a half of a million jobs, and would pay more in US corporate taxes if US corporate tax law were to be simplified and updated.

Here are some of the notable quotes that you will hear in Cook’s testimony.

“Apple complies fully with both the laws and spirit of the laws. And Apple pays all its required taxes, both in this country and abroad.”
“Apple welcomes an objective examination of the US corporate tax system, which has not kept pace with the advent of the digital age and the rapidly changing global economy.”
“Apple ...

Look Forward, Not Backward, With Dividend ETFs

ETF Professor — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:30:26 +0000

There are two certainties in life, death and taxes, and there are two certainties when it comes to income investing. First, dividends are great. Second, steadily rising dividends are even better.

Simple math dictates that, over long-term time frames, stocks exhibiting positive dividend growth trends stand a good chance of outperforming those that do not ratchet dividends higher.

Perhaps that explains why so many investors look for dividend growth with ETFs. Several marquee payout funds, including the largest, the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSE: VIG), use length of dividend increase streaks as a primary weighting criteria.

It pays to remember that evaluating a factor such as dividend increase streaks is a backward-looking endeavor and may not be the most efficacious strategy for finding the best dividend ETFs.

"Companies with a long history of dividend growth may not be the key drivers of tomorrow's dividend growth," said WisdomTree Research Director Jeremy Schwartz in a new research note. "We believe one has to be more dynamic in one's selection criteria to capture the current shifting trend in the U.S. dividend market."

Returns suggest investors can win with ETFs that focus on dividend ...

General Cable Announces Initiation of Regular Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 per Share. Extends $125M Buyback Through End of 2013

Eddie Staley — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:17:19 +0000

General Cable Corporation (NYSE: BGC) today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the payment of a regular quarterly dividend. The Board declared an initial quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, payable on June 28, 2013 to all common shareholders of record as of June 10, 2013. The quarterly dividend is the first for General Cable since 2002. In addition, the Board extended the Company's existing $125 million, one-year share repurchase program originally adopted in October 2012. The 2012 repurchase program authorization will now continue through the end of 2013. This program has not been utilized by the Company principally due to restrictions implemented while the Company restated its financial statements at the end of 2012 and into the early part of 2013.

Gregory B. Kenny, President ...

UPDATE: Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Announces Intention to Declare $1.00 per Share Supplemental Dividend on Closing of Plains Exploration & Production Company Acquisition and Reiterates Capital Allocation Plan for Oil & Gas Business

Eddie Staley — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:41:01 +0000

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) announced today that its Board of Directors intends to declare a supplemental dividend of $1.00 per share of common stock immediately following the closing of the pending acquisition of Plains Exploration & Production Company (NYSE: PXP). This supplemental dividend would be in addition to FCX's regular quarterly common stock dividend of $0.3125 per share.

The payment of the dividend is intended to benefit both FCX's current shareholders and the FCX shares to be issued in connection with the pending acquisition of Plains Exploration & Production Company. The declaration of the supplemental dividend is conditional on the closing of the transaction.

In addition, a special committee of FCX's Board of Directors formed to consider the transaction and the FCX Board of Directors have agreed to allow Plains Exploration & Production Company to pay a $3.00 per share cash dividend to PXP stockholders upon completion of the transaction. ...