Stockerblog's  Instablog

The following stocks have recently increased their dividends. This is the sign of a good company and could be the sign of an improving economy.

American Water Works Company (AWK) announced an increase of its quarterly cash dividend payment from $0.25 to $0.28 per share, a 12 percent increase.

Costco (COST) raised its dividend by 12.70% to 31 cents per share.

IBM (IBM) raised its quarterly dividend by 11.8% to 95 cents per share.

PepsiCo (PEP) raised quarterly distributions by 5.6% to 56.75 cents per share.

Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS-A) raised its quarterly dividend by 4.7% to 90 cents per share.

Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, a 54% increase over the prior payout of $0.13 per share.

ExxonMobil (XOM) recently declared a 10.5% dividend increase.

Chevron (CVX) declared an 11% dividend increase.

If you like interesting lists like this, check out the many stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, most of which are free.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, you have to be extremely careful, and may need to avoid the technique during those times.

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 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 ex-dividend date, and the yield.

Highwood Properties (HIW) 5/20/2013 4.2%

Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM) 5/20/2013 3.1%

Park National Corp (PRK) 5/20/2013 5.6%

LTC Properties (LTC) 5/21/2013 3.9%

American Financial Group Inc. (AFW) 5/22/2013 6.0%

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: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Gold has been hit hard recently, and in mid April, the price of gold dropped like a 50 pound nugget. In the last six months, the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) tanked by over 16.6%. Many gold bugs believe that the selling pressure on gold is off now, and that a continuation of the little rebound during the last half of April is in the works. Stock yields have almost doubled and in some cases more than doubled.

Investors who are looking to get in to the gold market now have an interesting opportunity, as yields on the gold mining stocks have almost doubled, and in some cases, more than doubled. According to the free list of high yield gold mining stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over 20 gold stocks that pay dividends.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) is the big player in the precious metals arena, mining for copper, gold, molybdenum, cobalt, silver, and many other metals. It happens to be the world's largest publicly traded copper company. This Phoenix Arizona based company has operations in North America, South America, Indonesia, and Africa. The stock trades at 10.6 times trailing earnings and 7.7 times forward earnings. Earnings for the latest quarter were down about 15% on relatively flat revenues. The stock pays a very generous 4.0% yield, and dividends are paid quarterly. James R. Moffett, Chairman of the Board, and Richard C. Adkerson, President and Chief Executive Officer, said,

"Our first-quarter results reflect our focus on strong and safe production, aggressive cost management and advancing financially attractive projects to grow our copper production, increase cash flows and provide strong returns for shareholders."

One issue that investors should be aware of is that Freeport is moving more into the oil and gas industry through its acquisitions of Plains Exploration & Production Company and McMoRan Exploration Co.

Another high yield gold company is Yamana Gold, Inc. (AUY), a Toronto, Ontario, Canada based company involved in the exploration and production of gold, copper, molybdenum, zinc, and silver, from its properties in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. The stock trades at 24 times trailing earnings and 11.2 times forward earnings. The latest quarterly earnings were down 40% on a 4.4% reduction in revenues. The dividends are much higher than a current bank certificate of deposit, as the stock currently yields 2.2%. Dividends for this company are also paid out quarterly.

The yields on these stocks can help reduce some of the volatility and return capital faster. However, if the price of gold doesn't stabilize and begin to increase, the gold mining stocks can suffer even more than they have been lately. For a list of the other high yield gold mining stocks, which can be downloaded, sorted, and updated, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.