stock investing

Microsoft Corporation provides software products for computing devices worldwide.

Microsoft is a major component of the S&P 500, Dow Industrials and Nasdaq 100 indexes. Microsoft has been consistently increasing its dividends since 2003. From the end of 1998 up until December 2008 this dividend growth stock has delivered a negative annual average total return of 3.90 % to its shareholders.

The past two weeks have been pretty uneventful in terms of dividend increases, mainly due to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Once the majority of market participants returned to their trading desks, it was again business as usual. The markets did end the week 4.20% lower, which left the largest ETF by assets that tracks S&P 500, the SPY, down 1.2% on the year.

Some fellow investors argue that a dividend cut might not necessarily be a bad event, since management shows proactive steps in order to conserve cash until the company situation turns better. Furthermore, if many companies cut their dividend, which was the occasion during The Great Depression, I would be selling at low prices which would never again be seen for decades to come.

In 2008 the dividend aristocrats’ index outperformed the S&P 500 by 15.50 percent. The dividend aristocrates lost 21.55% in 2008 versus the 37.00% loss for the S&P 500. In December Standard and Poor’s updated their Dividend Aristocrats list. The companies which were added were:

With the right strategy, stock market investing is a very simple and lucrative area of ongoing income generation, even for beginners.

The stocks that I selected are representative of four high-yield sectors, where dividend investors typically shop for current income. Furthermore despite their high current yields, the dividend payments for the four stocks below seem sustainable.

Dominion Resoures and Realty Income Increased their payouts to shareholders last week..

There were several dividend aristocrats that recently announced no increase in their payments to shareholders, which could endanger their dividend status.

Last week saw even more notable dividend increases as companies from many sectors showed confidence not only in their ability to generate increasing profits, but also to share the wealth with their owners.

Dividend Growth Investing is a strategy that allows investors to purchase dividend stocks that have a long history of increasing their dividend payments to shareholders. These stocks have sound business models which have withstood the test of many recessions.

Last week General Electric reiterated for the second time that it will continue paying out a quarterly dividend of $0.31/share in 2009. GE is going thought a difficult transition, as it is trying to deleverage and decrease the profit contribution of its GE Capital unit from 50% to 40%. Furthermore the company is also trying to maintain its triple A rating and to keep its dividend safe.

There were several dividend cuts last week, including a notable one from a commodities company.

Last week marked yet another rollercoaster performance in the stock market, as major indices clocked in yet another weekly loss. Markets rebounded from their lows on Monday as they were reassured by General Electric (GE) that it will maintain its dividend payment in 2009, which boosted the stock by over $2 in one day.

Many pundits are comparing the recent bear market declines in the major US indexes to the market action from the Great Depression. Some go as far as comparing the current market decline to the bursting of the Japanese stock and real estate bubbles in the early 1990s. These comparisons are of course not fruitful as each bear market is different than the rest

Last week was pretty weak in terms of major dividend cuts. The one notable sector where many high yield stocks were located, the tankers, keeps the wires busy with negative dividend news.