On July 12, 2018, a Missouri jury ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) to pay $4.7 billion to 22 women who had accused it of giving them ovarian cancer due to asbestos in its name-brand talcum powders. With over 9,000 additional talcum powder cases pending, some investors are worried that this beloved dividend king (55 straight [...]
Founded in 1898, International Paper (IP) is the world's largest global paper and packaging company with a No. 1 position in all of its key markets, which span North America, Europe, Latin America, North Africa, India, and Russia. The company owns over 290 facilities and has a total capacity of more than 20 million tons [...]
Wells Fargo has been fighting a number of scandals that are impacting its fundamentals. Let's take a look at how the bank's turnaround efforts are going and what they mean for dividend investors. More Scandals Continue To Surface At this point, Wells Fargo has become well-known for its ever-growing list of scandals which include: [...]
On July 12, just one month after the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's merger with Time Warner was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, the Justice Department appealed the ruling. What does this mean for dividend investors? After all, AT&T already merged with Time Warner on June 15. Let's take [...]
Founded in 1833, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B) is one of the world's largest integrated oil companies with operations in over 70 countries. In addition to exploring for and extracting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, Royal Dutch Shell owns a number of refineries, distribution terminals, and LNG tankers. The company also has [...]
Kellogg (K), founded in 1906, is a global manufacturer and marketer of ready-to-eat cereal and convenience foods such as cookies, crackers, savory snacks, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and veggie foods. Kellogg's core brands, which drive almost 40% of its sales in North America, include Kellogg’s, Pop Tarts, Eggo, Froot Loops, [...]
Vodafone (VOD) was founded in 1984 in the U.K. and has quickly grown into one of the world’s largest telecom conglomerates. Along with its joint venture partners, the company offers telephone, internet, cable TV, and wireless mobile services in 72 countries on six continents. In total, Vodafone serves 536 million mobile customers and 20 [...]
Founded 60 years ago, Kimco Realty (KIM) is one of North America’s largest publicly traded owners and operators of open-air shopping centers. As of March 31, 2018, the company owned interests in 475 U.S. shopping centers comprising 81 million square feet of leasable space primarily concentrated in major metropolitan markets along the coast. The [...]
Apple Hospitality (APLE) began trading as a publicly listed REIT in 2015. The firm's property portfolio consists of 243 Marriott and Hilton branded hotels located in 88 mostly large and urban markets throughout 34 states. Almost all of the REIT's hotels are located in high traffic locations such as suburbs, cities, or near airports. Source: [...]
Founded in 1906, ONEOK (OKE) is a large energy midstream service provider with an especially dominant presence in the shale formations of Oklahoma. The firm's pipelines and storage facilities are connected to over 140 gas processing facilities across the country, making it incredibly valuable to its core natural gas liquid (NGL) customers. Source: ONEOK Fact [...]
Founded in 1985, Blackstone Group L.P. (BX) is the world’s largest alternative asset manager with about 2,400 employees and $450 billion in assets under management. The firm specializes in private equity (direct ownership of private companies), real estate, hedge funds, and investing in private debt. Source: Blackstone Investor Presentation Blackstone earns its money by charging [...]
Founded in 1997, Annaly Capital Management (NLY) is the largest and oldest mortgage REIT (mREIT) in America with over $100 billion in assets. The firm primarily invests in residential mortgages that are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Like all mREITs, Annaly’s business model involves borrowing at short-term (lower) interest rates, in order [...]
Founded in 1932, Stepan Company (SCL) produces and sells specialty and intermediate chemicals to other manufacturers for use in various end products around the world. The company operates in three segments: Surfactants (67% of sales, 56% of profits): offers surfactants that are used as principal ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning products, such as detergents [...]
Founded in 1961, Lancaster Colony (LANC) is a specialty food maker that owns several niche dip, bread, frozen roll, crouton, dressing, and flatbread brands, including Marzetti, New York Bakery, Sister Schubert’s, Flatout, Aunt Vi’s, Reames, Mamma Bella’s, Romanoff, and Chatham Lodge. In addition, Lancaster makes licensed products including Olive Garden dressing, Jack Daniel’s mustard, and [...]
General Electric (GE) announced a slew of major strategic initiatives today that will ultimately result in another dividend cut within 12 to 18 months. I estimate the dividend could be reduced by as much as 35%. Specifically, the company decided to spin-off its healthcare segment (23% of profits in 2017) and divest its ownership [...]