United Technologies (UTX) is one of America's oldest and largest industrial conglomerates. That business model has served income investors well, with the company recently becoming a dividend aristocrat by announcing its 25th consecutive annual dividend increase and also boasting a track record of paying uninterrupted dividends since 1936. However, on November 26, 2018, the firm [...]

Have you ever wondered if you should reinvest dividends or take them in cash and decide where to invest the money yourself? After all, a downside of reinvesting dividends in a bull market is reinvesting automatically at higher stock prices. Perhaps it makes more sense to take cash dividends and invest them only in undervalued [...]

One appeal of long-term dividend growth investing is the ability to increase your share count by reinvesting dividends. As companies continue growing their dividends and the number of shares you own rises, you can achieve exponential income growth over time. Dividend reinvestment plans, or DRIPs, are the easiest way for hands-off investors to execute this [...]

For decades tobacco stocks have been used by conservative dividend investors to generate safe and steadily rising income. Due to the addictive nature of cigarettes, tobacco businesses are generally recession-proof with low stock price volatility, and thus a staple of many retirement portfolios. However, since peaking in early 2018 British American Tobacco's (BTI) share price [...]

Investing in CenturyLink (CTL), the struggling regional telecom company, has not gone well for investors over the last few years. Since peaking in late 2014, CenturyLink's stock is down about 55%, and even accounting for its double-digit yield, investors have seen total returns of about -35%. After years of struggling with a declining legacy landline [...]

After nearly a decade of historically low interest rates, many yield-starved income investors have flocked to high dividend stocks. But there are many different classes of high-yield stocks, some much safer and more appropriate for conservative investors than others. Let's take a look at one popular high-yield investment class, royalty trusts, to see what investors [...]

EQT Midstream Partners, LP (EQM) is a master limited partnership formed by EQT Corp (EQT) to own, operate, and expand its gas gathering, storage, processing, and transportation assets in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The firm's assets provide midstream services to EQT, other energy producers, and utilities to [...]

Whenever a dividend stock's price plunges to multi-year lows, investors naturally want to know if the market is signaling that something is deeply wrong, such as if the business model has weakened enough to potentially put the dividend at risk. That's been the case with food giant Kraft Heinz (KHC), which has fallen over 40% [...]

Founded in 1894 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Hershey (HSY) manufactures and sells chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products including: gum and mints; baking ingredients such as toppings, beverages, and syrups; and snack items, including spreads, meat snacks, bars, mixes, popcorn, protein bars, and cookies. These products are marketed under over 80 leading brands including: Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses, [...]

Meredith (MDP) is one of the nation's oldest media and publishing companies, having been founded in 1902 as an agricultural publisher. More impressively, the firm has paid uninterrupted dividends for 71 consecutive years and has increased its dividend in each of the last 25 years. At its core, Meredith provides consumers with the content they [...]

Founded in 1920, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is an international exploration and development (E&D) company with operations in North America, Latin America, and the Middle East. The firm's production is somewhat balanced across oil (64% of total production), gas (21%), and natural gas liquids (15%). Occidental is also geographically diverse with about half of its energy [...]

It's been a brutal year for dividend aristocrat AbbVie (ABBV), which has seen its share price plunge more than 30% from its all-time high. As a result, the stock's yield is now at a record high of 5.2%, and shares trade at just 9.9 times forward earnings. Whenever a dividend stock's price crashes this severely, [...]

Founded initially in 2002, Energy Transfer LP (ET) was formed out of the $27 billion all-stock merger of MLP Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and its sponsor Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) in October 2018. Energy Transfer is one of the largest integrated midstream MLPs in America. The firm owns a sizable network of assets that gather, [...]

Income investors are often attracted to mouthwatering yields, and L Brands' (LB) 7% payout certainly qualifies. Founded in 1963, L Brands operates over 3,000 company-owned retail stores, primarily under the Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works brands. Most of its locations are mall-based. By building up dominant brands in the lingerie, beauty, and fragrance [...]

On October 16, IBM (IBM) reported disappointing earnings that sent shares plunging nearly 8% the next day. This week shares continued tumbling after IBM announced plans to acquire software company Red Hat (RHT) for $34 billion. As a result, IBM's stock now trades at its lowest price since 2009, and its other valuation metrics also [...]