In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can’t sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable Excel list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the market capitalization, the ex-dividend date and the yield.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY) market cap: $73.2B ex div date: 1/24/11 yield: 3.9%

The Clorox Company (CLX) market cap: $8.9B ex div date: 1/25/11 yield: 3.5%

Boardwalk REIT (BOWFF) market cap: $1.9B ex div date: 1/27/11 yield: 4.4%

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG) market cap: $9.9B ex div date: 1/27/11 yield: 4.1%

Bank of Montreal (BMO) market cap: $32.0B ex div date: 1/28/11 yield: 4.9%

Fifth Street Finance Corp. (FSC) market cap: $654.6M ex div date: 1/28/11 yield: 10.7%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn’t show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company’s books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don’t forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Let’s first start with the disadvantages. First, you won’t get a 1099-DIV form for filing your taxes on the partnership income. You will instead receive a K-1 Form which involves more tax forms to attach to your Form 1040. This means that if you prepare your own taxes, it will take more time. If you have an accountant prepare your taxes, he or she may charge more due to the extra time involved with the K-1 . Also, you shouldn’t invest in partnerships through a retirement plan such as an IRA due to Unrelated Business Income Tax issues (your tax preparer can provide you with more details).

Now the advantages. Partnerships can provide high yields which may be partly or completely tax sheltered. They distribute substantially all of their income, thereby avoiding double taxation. Income distributions are fairly high and are paid quarterly.

Most of these partnerships are producers and distributors of oil and gas. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com just updated its list of high yield US Master Limited Partnerships, and found over 15 with yields above 5%.

As an example, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (BWP), a natural gas pipeline owner and operator, yields 6.4% and trades at twenty times forward earnings. The company has been making quarterly payouts since 2006.

NuStar Energy L.P. (NS) stores transports, and markets fuels. It has a yield of 6.3%, and has a forward price to earnings ratio of 21. Quarterly distributions have been made since 2001.

Buckeye Partners LP (BPL) is an operator of petroleum product pipelines. The yield is 5.7%, paying distributions since 1994, and the forward PE is 20.

For a free downloadable list of these high yield partnerships with yields as high as 7%, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Japan has the third largest economy in the world based on gross domestic product for purchasing power parity and nominal GDP. Three quarters of the GDP comes from the service sector. The countries unemployment rate is 5.1%. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the largest exchange in the world outside of the United States. There are over 15 different Japanese companies that trade on American stock exchanges, according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

The Tokyo based Canon Inc. (CAJ), the popular manufacturer of copying machines, laser printers, inkjet printers, and cameras, pays a decent 2.3% yield and trades at 19 times forward earnings. The price earnings growth ratio is a very reasonable 0.96. Earnings for the quarter ending September 30 were up an astounding 85.6% on a 17.9% rise in revenues. The company reports earnings on January 27.

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) is another Japanese dividend payer, yielding 1.1%. This manufacturer of cars, minivans, SUVs, and trucks has a forward price to earnings ratio of 20.7. Earnings for the latest quarter ending September 30 were up an incredible 352%, with sales increasing by 5.8%. Toyota reports February 4.

For a free list of Japan based stocks, which can be downloaded, sorted, and updated, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

There are plenty of India stocks that US investors can buy and dividends are available on more than half a dozen of the Indian stocks that trade in the United States, according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. For example, Tata Motors Ltd. (TTM), a major automobile manufacturer in India also makes and markets utility vehicles, trucks, buses, and defense vehicles. It produces gasoline, electric and hybrid vehicles. The stock pays a yield of 1.1% and trades at only 7.8 times forward earnings. Quarterly revenues grew 36.8% for the quarter ending September 30. The company also has about $3.45 per share in cash.

Another Indian stock that pays a dividend is ICICI Bank Ltd. (IBN), the second largest bank in India and the largest private sector bank in India based on market capitalization. It currently yields 1.1% and has a forward price to earnings ratio of 16. Quarterly earnings jumped 79% on a revenue gain of 13.5% for the quarter ending March 31.

Wipro Ltd. (WIT) is a semi-conglomerate, which sells software services, computer hardware such as computers, servers, and laptops, and personal care products, and lighting products. It has also invested in renewable energy projects. The stock has a yield of 0.8% and a forward PE of 29. Earnings for the quarter ending September 30 were up 9.8%.

To access a free recently updated list of the India stocks that trade in the United States, about half of which pay dividends, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Picture courtesy of David Castor.

So here is what happened when I violated one of my rules. In December, I looked for low priced stocks that really tanked due to tax selling. I thought I found an interesting company called Constar International Inc. (CNST), a manufacturer of plastic containers. The stock traded as high as $20 a share back in April and had dropped below $2 a share in December. I thought that was a pretty good drop which I assumed was due to tax selling, possibly making it a great buy. So I looked further into the stock. The company had $1.42 in cash per share, and was trading way below the reported book value of $2.48 per share. But there was one little hitch; the company had debt, a lot of debt for its size. Its debt to equity ratio was stratospheric.

But I thought, I am just buying it for the very short term, the tax selling rebound, so the debt shouldn’t mean anything (first mistake). I bought a bunch around $2 a share on December 28. The first week of January, the stock traded between 1.80 and 2.00, and I kept waiting for it to pop (second mistake, if the trade doesn’t work in a reasonable number of days, get out). So on January 11, I checked my portfolio and noticed that it was down big time, even though the market was up at the time. I searched down my list of stocks and discovered that Constar had plunged by almost a buck from a previous close of 1.75 to 79 cents. That’s a drop of 55% in one day! I scrambled to find the cause of the drop and eventually discovered that the company had filed for bankruptcy.

So in exactly two weeks, I lost around 60% on that one stock, all because I violated my one primary rule, choose stocks with low or no debt. Yes, I’ll probably miss out on plenty of rising stocks with lots of debt, but I will have less downside risk, and less of a chance of getting downside shocks from bankruptcies.

The takeaway is, if you have a stock trading system that works, be disciplined and don’t waiver from your own rules. In my case, I had plenty of other stocks to choose from. As a matter of fact, WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has several lists of debt free stocks, including Debt Free Stocks Selling At Or Near Cash, High Cash No Debt High Yield Stocks, No Debt High Yield Stocks, No Debt Low Price To Cash Flow Stocks, and Stocks Selling Near Cash Per Share and Debt Free.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.

By Stockerblog.com

Gas Natural Inc. (EGAS), formerly known as Energy, Inc., is a distributor of natural gas in Montana, Wyoming, North Carolina, and Maine. It was founded in 1909. The stock pays a yield of 5.1% and carries a price to earnings ratio of 7.03.

Baytex Energy (BTE) is an investment trust which generates income from petroleum and natural gas properties. It generates a yield of 5.1%, and has been paying monthly since 2006. The company trades at 23.5 times forward earnings.

Blackrock Apex Municipal Fund Inc. (APX), founded in 1987, owns medium-to-lower grade or unrated municipal bonds, and sports a yield of 6.2%. It sells at a discount to net asset value in excess of 12.7%. Management fees are 0.68%.

Realty Income Corp. (O), with the great single letter stock ticker symbol, yields 5.1%. This real estate investment trust which specializes in commercial retail real estate, has been around since 1969. The stock trades at 16.9 times forward earnings.

Calamos Convertible & High Income (CHY) has a fairly high yield of 8.2%. It trades at about a 1.5% discount to net asset value. However, the management fee is a bit on the high side at 1.13%. This CEF, founded in 2003, invests in high yield fixed income securities and convertible securities.

Provident Energy Trust (PVX) is a Canadian income trust which generates a yield of 8.7% through the marketing of natural gas liquids. It was founded in 1993. Be aware of Canada’s new legislation taxing trust income in effect this year, which would tax the trusts at the corporate level in addition to the shareholder level. However, many analysts believe that this taxation is build into the price of these Canadian trusts.

Some things to keep in mind when you are doing your due diligence and analysis on these investments. Be careful of the ones with high management fees, watch out for the ones with limited liquidity and which trade very few shares on a daily basis, and if you invest in the municipal bond closed end funds, make sure you know the consequences of the Alternative Minimum Tax. You also want to find the ones that trade at a discount to net asset value, and avoid the ones using excessive leverage.

To see the latest updated list of over 275 monthly dividend stocks, including many that have yields of 8% or more, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. Remember, very high yields may not be sustainable.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can’t sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable Excel list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the market capitalization, the ex-dividend date and the yield.

Main Street Capital Corporation (MAIN) market cap: $331.8M ex div date: 1/18/11 yield: 8.5%

Comtech Telecomm. Corp. (CMTL) market cap: $760.8M ex div date: 1/19/11 yield: 3.6%

Enersis S.A. ADR (ENI) market cap: $14.9B ex div date: 1/19/11 yield: 3.6%

Imperial Tobacco Group PLC ADR (ITYBY) market cap: $31.5B ex div date: 1/19/11 yield: 6.3%

Putnam Master Int. Income (PIM) market cap: $382.9M ex div date: 1/20/11 yield: 8.8%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn’t show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company’s books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don’t forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

A real estate company in Stockholm, Sweden called Jernhusen, has put the heat from human bodies to good use, using it to heat a building. All the hundreds of thousands of daily passengers that go through Stockholm Central Station generate a huge amount of body heat. That heat is captured, used to heat water which is transported to another building in order to warm the secondary building. An energy savings of about 25% is claimed.

Although there is no way to invest in body heat energy yet, there are still plenty of other environmentally conscious energy producing companies. You can find free lists of green energy companies, such as ethanol stocks, cloud computing stocks, and water purification stocks, at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com. The lists can be downloaded, sorted, and updated.

By Stockerblog.com

Back in October last year, I announced the purchase of Aqua America (WTR:US), a water and wastewater services company that has over 3 million customers across 14 states.  At the time, I was pretty pleased with my purchase. Why?

o Aqua America provides what everyone needs; clean, safe, reliable water.
o Theyve been a dividend payer since 1939.
o Theyve paid quarterly dividends consecutively for more than 60 years.
o Their five year average dividend growth rate is over 8%.

With a market cap of about $3 billion they are not a small company and they have lots of room to grow through both acquisitions and service diversification.

So why did I sell them with mostly upside to be had?

Although I consider Aqua America a good company with long-term growth prospects, I recently found out that Aqua America is not eligible for any dividend reinvestment plan with my discount brokerage institution. This is in contrast to what Aqua America offers with their transfer agent Computershare in the U.S. Here are some highlights from their website:

o Aqua America, Inc. has a Dividend Reinvestment and Direct Stock Purchase Plan (the “Plan”) that offers investors a convenient and economical way to purchase shares of the Company’s Common Stock.
o Computershare Shareholder Services, Incwill administer the Plan and act as Agent for the participants.
o As a shareholder, you can buy additional shares of our common stock at any time for as little as $50. You can pay by check or by a one-time online bank debit through the Buy Stock Direct option noted above, or have your payment automatically withdrawn from your U.S. bank account.

While DRIPping Aqua America through Computershare has its merits, I do not want to go through the hassle of setting up a U.S. bank account or always commit to a minimum $50 cheque to purchase more WTR:US shares. Unfortunately when I made my Aqua America purchase in October I assumed because they offered a full DRIP via their transfer agent they would offer a synthetic DRIP with my discount brokerage institution. This was not the case. This was alarmingly clear when dividends were paid to me in December in cash.  

My lesson learned?

Before I make another U.S. stock purchase, Ill check with my discount brokerage institution to ensure the stock is synthetically DRIP eligible. Not all U.S. companies who offer DRIPs with their transfer agents offer these plans synthetically with brokerages. Im not sure why WTR:US Board of Directors made this decision (maybe they want to keep more control over the companys shares?) but it was an annoying revelation for me.

Sure, I could have kept Aqua America shares and not had the dividends reinvested but I think that goes against my strategy as a dividend investor. For every stock I own, I want to have enough shares of any company to DRIP at least one full share every quarter. I can do that for almost every stock in my portfolio, except for a couple Canadian stocks. 

o My DRIPs will provide me with dollar-cost averaging.
o My DRIPs take the emotions out of my investing.
o My DRIPs will not cost me anything to buy more shares.
o My DRIPs will take advantage of the magic of compounding.
o My DRIPs help me set and forget part of my retirement plan.

 
What can I say? I made another investing mistake and Ill probably make more.  How about you? Any investing mistakes you care to share?

My Own Advisor

But there are also regular corporations, such as Alaska Communications (ALSK) which provides landline and wireless services to Sarah Palin’s state. The stock sells for around $10 per share, has a forward price to earnings ratio of 37, and pays a yield of 7.8%. The company reports earnings on March 4.

Another example is Hercules Technology (HTGC) which is a private equity, venture capital, and venture debt firm. It sells for less than $11 per share, has a forward PE of 9.8, and pays a yield of 7.4%.

Provident Energy (PVX) processes, transports, stores, and markets natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. It sells for slightly more than $8 per share, has a forward PE of 17, and yields 8.8%.

For a list of over 15 stocks that pay a yield over 6% and sell for less than $10 per share, go to wsnn.com. Just remember, very high yields may not be sustainable.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com