AFL

I am a firm believer that asset allocation plays a significant part in a portfolio’s long-term results. Recently, I received a question asking if you could have a diversified portfolio of dividend stocks. It is an interesting question that deserves further examination.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) reported fourth quarter EPS was $0.66, up 53 percent, from $0.43 last year. analysts average $0.67. KO misses by $0.01.

Sales were driven by international volume growth of 6 percent in the quarter and 4 percent for the full year.

The Coca-Cola Company manufactures, distributes, and markets nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups worldwide.

Though many dividend stocks are now trading in excess of their calculated fair value, capital appreciation is not the primary reason for investing in dividend stocks. Dividend fundamentals are what drive my purchase decision, and if I could only look at one metric it would be...

As the year draws to a close there were very few companies of note increasing their dividends this week. With that, I thought it would be interesting to see who might be the big dividend raisers in 2010. Here are seven companies for your consideration:

When selecting a dividend growth stock there is really only one factor that is important – sustainability. As we evaluate many aspects of a company, what we are really trying to determine is if the company can continue to raise its dividend indefinitely into the future.

There are certainly many ways to categorize the different styles of investing in dividend stocks, including yield, risk, growth, etc. Over the years, I have found that most dividend investing styles fall into one of the three major categories listed below:

Aflac Incorporated engages in the marketing and sale of supplemental health and life insurance plans in the United States and Japan. Linked here is a detailed analysis and commentary.

We all want to succeed in everything that we do, including investing in the stock market. Though I have no analytical data to back it up, I am convinced that most people will lose money in the stock market over their lifetime. So why do so few people succeed at investing?

I am a firm believer in keeping things simple. However, you can simplify things to the point they no longer have value. In my opinion, a lot of the commonly used financial metrics can be very misleading unless you understand what is behind them. Let’s take a closer look at Dividend Payout.

There has been some controversy over harvesting forests of hardwoods and reseeding them with pines. Valuable hardwood require decades to reach financial maturity. The southern pine reaches financial maturity in a fraction of the time. Growing hardwoods is very similar to investing in dividend stocks.

I currently track 100 dividend stocks in my D4L-Dashboard and have determined some of the lower rated stocks could be buys if the companies simply chose to increase their dividends. For various reasons their management has elected keep a low payout ratio and deploy the excess cash elsewhere.

How about a list of some great dividend stocks that have long history of increasing their dividends, some for decades? These have a powerful balance sheet, with a track record of generating consistent cash flows and are well-managed, but...

The markets have seen some significant gains since their March lows. Each time this occurs there is a new round of experts calling the bottom. Time and time again the market throws them a cruel twist and heads lower. Will this time be different?

Not many companies fortunes are as closely tied to the stock market as those in the insurance industry. When the market is climbing, insurers will often soar beyond the market, and will fall harder when the market declines. With the market upturn is now a good time to consider insurance companies?

Another day in the books, but there still hasn't been too much selling pressure, with the S&P 500 down about a quarter of one percent. As I recently stated on http://www.optionmaestro.com, I think there is a sell off ahead, or at least that is what the Volatility Index (VIX) is telling me.