Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Dividend Growth Analysis: United Parcel Service (UPS)

What can brown do you for you?  Well, when economic conditions are favorable they can generate increasing dividend payments to its investors.  But the dependency their profit margins have on the cost of gas can put a damper on those payments.  When I break down my analysis on UPS, we can see what previous high gas prices did to their dividend and free cash flow.

United Parcel Service (UPS), a package delivery company, provides transportation, logistics, and financial services in the U.S. and internationally. It operates in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain and Freight. UPS is part of the Services Sector and Air Delivery and Freight Services Industry.  UPS Dividend Analysis


TAGS: [UPS]

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Boring Terms We Need To Know: REIT

Wouldn't it be nice to own real estate and collect regular payments from renters while the property you own continues to increase in value?  Of course  you typically have to have a lot of money (or debt) to own these rental properties.  You also have to have the knowledge of what properties would make good investments vs what would be a money trap.  Being a landlord is certainly appealing, but I don't have the capital or in-depth real estate knowledge needed to be successful.  That's why I like Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

REITs are corporations that primarily own and usually operate real estate that generates revenue.  These properties can include hotels, commercial office buildings, rental homes, apartment complexes, etc…  The great thing about REITs is that they are required to pay 90% of their annual taxable income to its investors in the form of dividends.  By doing this the corporation reduces or eliminates having to pay taxes.  As you can imagine, paying out 90% of a company's income can lead to large dividend payments and yields.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Dividend Growth Analysis: Target (TGT)

Sorry, it's been a month since I put together a stock analysis.  I told my mom I'd do an analysis of Target awhile back, better late than never I guess.

Target is another company we should all know well.  What you probably don't know is that Target has been a phenomenal dividend growth stock for over 40 years.  The company is dedicated to rewarding their shareholders with increasing dividend payments each year and has recently projected what they believe they will be paying by year 2017.  A projection that is more than double what they are paying now ($1.20 now vs $3.00 in 2017).  That takes some cojones by management, but so far they appear to be on track.  So here you go mom, sorry it took so long: Target Dividend Analysis


Tags: [TGT]

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Ka-Ching! PNC just gave me a 14% raise

PNC Financial Services (PNC) announced on Thursday that it's raising its quarterly dividend by 14%. The dividend of 40 cents per share, up from 35 cents previously, will be paid May 5 to shareholders of record as of April 17.

This dividend increase follows a 250% increase last year at this time ($0.10 to $0.35).  I wrote about PNC last October and its potential for future dividend increases and on Thursday it did not disappoint.  Last month PNC passed the Federal Reserve's "stress test" which determines if a bank has enough capital to withstand an extreme economic downturn.  This was a big roadblock to pass before being able to make such a sizable dividend increase.