Cardinal Health (CAH): A High-Growth Dividend Aristocrat in the Healthcare Sector
Cardinal Health (CAH) scores extremely well for Dividend Safety (95) and Dividend Growth (91). The company has increased its dividend by 15% per year over the last five years and is a dividend aristocrat that shows no signs of slowing down. With a reasonable earnings multiple of 15.4x, now could be a good time to consider buying Cardinal Health for our Top 20 Dividend Stocks portfolio. Business Overview Cardinal Health was founded in the 1970s and has grown to become one of the largest healthcare companies in the world with over $100 billion in annual sales. It primarily makes money by distributing a wide variety of pharmaceutical and medical supplies. The company does business with more than 5,000 [...]
BHP Billiton (BHP) Cuts Dividend: It Didn’t Have To Be A Surprise
There's no such thing as a free lunch, and that certainly applies to dividend investors who chase high yield stocks. More often than not, you get what you pay for. BHP Billiton (BHP) is the latest high yield stock to cut its dividend (ConocoPhillips slashed its dividend earlier this month, too). This was BHP's first dividend cut in 15 years and reduces the company's dividend yield from 9.8% to an estimated 1.3%. Prior to the announced dividend cut, BHP's Dividend Safety Score was 5, indicating that the company's dividend payment was riskier than 95% of all other stocks in the market and very likely to be cut - even despite BHP's 15-year dividend growth streak and management's commentary over the [...]
Franklin Resources (BEN): A Cheap Dividend Aristocrat…Or A Value Trap?
Franklin Resources (BEN) increased its dividend by a hefty 20% last week, continuing its dividend growth streak dating back to 1981. This dividend aristocrat has recently fallen on hard times, causing its stock price to drop by 37% over the last year. BEN’s stock now has a dividend yield twice as high as its five-year average yield, and it trades for a forward earnings multiple of just 12.6x. Let’s take a closer look at the business, which has several notable strengths despite the fall in its stock price. Business Overview Franklin Resources is a global investment management firm with more than $725 billion in assets under management as of 1/31/16. It provides equity, fixed income, alternative, and [...]
7 High Quality Dividend Stocks Increasing Their Payouts
A dividend increase is one the surest signs of financial strength and management's confident in the underlying business. Not surprisingly, company's that consistently raise their dividends year after year have historically been some of the best performing stocks in the market. That is one reason why the list of dividend aristocrats is so popular. Monitoring stocks that are raising their dividend payouts can be a great way to discover new dividend growth stocks to buy and hold for the long haul. The seven high quality dividend stocks all announced dividend increases over the past week and scored very well for Dividend Safety and Dividend Growth using our proprietary dividend rating system. Not surprisingly, some of these blue chip dividend [...]
When Should I Sell My Stocks?
We have all been there. One of our stocks is down over 30% from where we bought it, and we know it is time to make a tough decision – should I sell my stock, or is it time to double down? Alternatively, it can be just as hard to decide what to do when some investments are up significantly, causing us to wonder if we should sell our stocks to lock in some profits. Selling stocks is hard for numerous reasons. We are almost always forced to make decisions based on incomplete information. No one has a crystal ball that can perfectly forecast the future, which can make us feel paralyzed to act. Even worse, our [...]
The Walt Disney Company (DIS): A Premier Dividend Growth Stock
Walt Disney (DIS) is the type of business we like to own in our Top 20 Dividend Stocks portfolio. The company has some of the highest scores for Dividend Safety (96) and Dividend Growth (99) in our entire database, and we think Disney’s future is bright. Despite its portfolio of extremely well-known consumer brands and hard-to-replicate assets, the stock has traded down from $120 per share in late 2015 to roughly $95 per share today. Is it time to buy some shares, or is more downside likely ahead? Let’s take a closer look at the business. Business Overview Disney was founded in 1923 and has grown into a diversified worldwide entertainment company with a number of cable [...]
Brown-Forman (BF-B): Serving Higher Dividends for over 30 Straight Years
Brown-Forman (BF-B) owns one of the most iconic alcoholic beverage brands in the world – Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. The company has enjoyed substantial growth over its rich operating history. The number of Jack Daniel’s cases sold by Brown-Forman increased from 600,000 in 1965 to roughly 15 million cases in 2015, and the stock’s market cap grew from $110 million to roughly $20 billion over that same time period. Dividend investors have also enjoyed more than 30 consecutive years of dividend increases from the company, and we expect many more dividend raises in the years to come. Brown-Forman has earned extremely high Dividend Safety (93) and Dividend Growth (87) ratings, and it’s certainly a business we would [...]
Chubb (CB): A Conservative Dividend Grower in the Insurance Industry
Chubb (CB) is one of the best managed insurance companies in the world. Prior to the merger of CB and ACE, these companies had raised their dividends for 33 and 22 consecutive years, respectively. With a forward-looking payout ratio below 30%, we expect the combined company's dividend growth to continue for many more years. While a merger the size of ACE and CB’s should naturally raise some concerns, we believe the deal is in good hands with ACE’s experienced CEO and think it will make CB even more competitive and profitable once the integration is complete. We like CB for our Top 20 Dividend Stocks portfolio and are optimistic about the company’s long-term future. Business Overview ACE announced [...]
Pentair (PNR): 40 Consecutive Years of Dividend Growth
Pentair (PNR) is a lesser known dividend aristocrat that most recently boosted its dividend by 5%, representing its 40th consecutive year of dividend increases. Weak energy markets, slumping commodity prices, and unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates are wreaking havoc on the company, which has seen its stock price plummet by more than 30% over the last year. However, two of the company’s four segments delivered organic growth last year, and a third is poised to return to growth in 2016. Three of its businesses have also delivered healthy margin expansion, and a well-known activist investor took a 7% stake in the company in mid-2015 (the stock has since sold off by nearly 40%). Perhaps there is a [...]
Air Products (APD): A Dividend Aristocrat Distributing Higher Dividends for 38 Straight Years
Air Products (APD) has rewarded shareholders with 38 consecutive years of dividend increases and is in the process of spinning off a non-core business to create further value. This industrial gas business shares many competitive advantages with other stocks we own in our Top 20 Dividend Stocks portfolio, but is now the time to buy it? Business Overview APD was founded in 1940 and has grown to be a world-leading industrial gas company. APD provides atmospheric and process gases and related equipment to manufacturing markets, including refining and petrochemical, metals, electronics, and food and beverage. The business is also very international – sales in North America accounted for just 42% of APD’s total revenue last year. The [...]