Friday, April 2, 2010

* 4 Dividend Stocks Acting Like a Money Machine

Growing up in the late 60’s early 70’s, I spent a fair amount of time reading comic books. I don’t remember much about them, but I do remember several of classic ads. Of course, there was the Charles Atlas ad where the beach bully kicked sand on the skinny boy and his girlfriend. But the ad that I remember the best was the “Magnificent Marvelous Money Machine“. It was a wooden block with some rollers in which you would put a one dollar bill in one side and a five dollar bill would come out the other.


Being very young and naive, my mom had a tough time convincing me that it was just a trick and something like that didn’t really exist. Sorry mom, but you were wrong on this one. The “Magnificent Marvelous Money Machine” does exist, but it has a different name. It is called Dividend Growth Investing.

Below are several companies that are multiplying their shareholders return by increasing their cash dividends:

Brinker (EAT) operates or franchises over 1,700 casual dining restaurants, including more than 1,500 Chili's, and owns a minority interest in Romano's Macaroni Grill. March 26th the company increased its quarterly dividend 27% to $0.14/share. The yield based on the new payout is 2.95%.

Todd Shipyards (TOD) a shipyard and dry dock facilities in the Pacific Northwest. March 29th the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.075/share. The dividend is payable June 23, 2010 to all shareholders of record as of June 8, 2010. The yield based on the new payout is 1.83%.

Wayne Savings (WAYN) is the holding company for two bank subsidiaries that operate banking offices in Ohio. March 29th the company increases its quarterly dividend 20% to $0.06/share. The dividend is payable on April 28, 2010 to stockholders of record as of April 14, 2010. The ex-dividend date is April 12, 2010. The yield based on the new payout is 2.84%.

Oxford Industries (OXM) produces branded and private label apparel for men, women, and children. March 30th the company raised its quarterly dividend 22% to $0.11/share. The dividend is payable on April 30, 2010 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 15, 2010. The ex-dividend date is April 13, 2010. The yield based on the new payout is 2.16%.

In addition to the above dividend raisers, two Dividend Achiever declared regular quarterly cash dividends. March 26th AT&T (T) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42/share with a 6.50% yield [Analysis]. The dividend is payable on May 3, 2010, to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 9, 2010. Also, McCormick & Company (MKC) on March 31st declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26/share with a 2.70% yield. The dividend is payable April 26, 2010, to shareholders of record on April 12, 2010. The ex-dividend date is April 8, 2010.

It is a cute trick to turn one dollar into five, but great dividend stocks grow their payout on a consistent basis. For a list of stocks with a long string of consecutive cash dividend increases, see this list.

Full Disclosure: Long T. See a list of all my income holdings here.
(Photo Credit)

Tags: [EAT] [MKC] [OXM] [T] [TOD] [WAYN]