In this low interest rate environment, dividends are still looking great. After all, the S&P 500 currently yields about 2%, and that is a heck of a lot better than you can get through most savings accounts. On top of this, dividends do two important things:
- First, a generous dividend payment often lowers a stock’s volatility. I’d much rather own a stock that’s stable rather than one that scatters all over the place.
- They also tell me how much money a company really has. If the company is willing to part with cash in the form of a dividend payment, then I know they really earned it.
But you still have to do your homework and screen dividend stocks for fundamental health. Stock selection remains critical with dividend stocks, because if you choose them correctly, you can make a fortune both as your invested capital appreciates over the years—and as the quarterly dividend grows.
And now is the perfect time to do so because we’re coming up on a bunch of ex-dividend dates over the next few weeks. I’ve listed the big dividends below. In order, they’re listed by Dividend Grader rating: A (dark green), B (light green), C (yellow), D (light red) and F (dark red). As and Bs are solid buys, Cs are holds and Ds and Fs are sells.
| Ticker | Company Name | Dividend Yield | Ex-Dividend | Payment |
| AFSI | AmTrust Financial Services Inc. | 2.3% | 10/3/2016 | $0.16 |
| BG | Bunge Limited | 2.6% | 11/16/2016 | $0.42 |
| CSCO | Cisco Systems Inc. | 3.0% | 10/3/2016 | $0.26 |
| CVS | CVS Health Corp. | 1.8% | 10/20/2016 | $0.43 |
| FL | Foot Locker Inc. | 1.6% | 10/12/2016 | $0.28 |
| INTU | Intuit Inc. | 1.1% | 10/5/2016 | $0.32 |
| KR | Kroger Co. | 1.3% | 11/10/2016 | $0.12 |
| LMT | Lockheed Martin Corp. | 2.7% | 11/29/2016 | $1.65 |
| LNC | Lincoln National Corp. | 2.1% | 10/5/2016 | $0.25 |
| LOW | Lowe’s Companies Inc. | 1.6% | 10/17/2016 | $0.33 |
| MHLD | Maiden Holdings, Ltd. | 4.2% | 10/3/2016 | $0.14 |
| MMC | Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. | 1.9% | 10/6/2016 | $0.34 |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corp. | 2.5% | 11/15/2016 | $0.38 |
| OXM | Oxford Industries Inc. | 1.5% | 10/12/2016 | $0.27 |
| PDCO | Patterson Companies Inc. | 2.0% | 10/12/2016 | $0.24 |
| PFBC | Preferred Bank | 1.6% | 10/5/2016 | $0.15 |
| SIG | Signet Jewelers Limited | 1.2% | 10/26/2016 | $0.26 |
| SYY | Sysco Corp. | 2.5% | 10/5/2016 | $0.31 |
| TGT | Target Corp. | 3.3% | 11/14/2016 | $0.60 |
| TJX | TJX Companies Inc. | 1.2% | 11/8/2016 | $0.25 |
| TNP | Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited | 5.6% | 11/2/2016 | $0.08 |
| TRN | Trinity Industries Inc. | 1.8% | 10/12/2016 | $0.12 |
| WDR | Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. | 10.2% | 10/6/2016 | $0.46 |
| Ticker | Company Name | Dividend Yield | Ex-Dividend | Payment |
| ABBV | AbbVie Inc. | 3.4% | 10/12/2016 | $0.57 |
| ALV | Autoliv Inc. | 2.1% | 11/14/2016 | $0.57 |
| BKE | Buckle Inc. | 3.9% | 10/12/2016 | $0.25 |
| CMCSA | Comcast Corp. | 1.6% | 10/3/2016 | $0.28 |
| GD | General Dynamics Corp. | 1.9% | 10/5/2016 | $0.76 |
| GNTX | Gentex Corp. | 2.0% | 10/5/2016 | $0.09 |
| GPS | Gap Inc. | 4.1% | 10/3/2016 | $0.23 |
| HAS | Hasbro Inc. | 2.4% | 10/28/2016 | $0.50 |
| INTC | Intel Corp. | 2.7% | 11/3/2016 | $0.26 |
| JPM | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 2.7% | 10/4/2016 | $0.48 |
| KWR | Quaker Chemical Corp. | 1.3% | 10/13/2016 | $0.34 |
| OC | Owens Corning | 1.3% | 10/13/2016 | $0.18 |
| ORCL | Oracle Corp. | 1.5% | 10/7/2016 | $0.15 |
| WMT | Wal-Mart Stores Inc. | 2.8% | 12/7/2016 | $0.50 |
| WSM | Williams-Sonoma Inc. | 2.9% | 10/25/2016 | $0.36 |
| Ticker | Company Name | Dividend Yield | Ex-Dividend | Payment |
| ABM | ABM Industries Inc. | 1.7% | 10/4/2016 | $0.17 |
| ABT | Abbott Laboratories | 2.4% | 10/12/2016 | $0.26 |
| BDN | Brandywine Realty Trust | 3.8% | 10/3/2016 | $0.16 |
| BRC | Brady Corp. | 2.3% | 10/6/2016 | $0.21 |
| CL | Colgate-Palmolive Company | 2.1% | 10/20/2016 | $0.39 |
| CLX | Clorox Company | 2.5% | 10/24/2016 | $0.81 |
| HBNC | Horizon Bancorp | 2.0% | 10/5/2016 | $0.16 |
| ICE | Intercontinental Exchange Inc. | 1.2% | 12/13/2016 | $0.85 |
| KIM | Kimco Realty Corp. | 3.4% | 10/3/2016 | $0.26 |
| MEI | Methode Electronics Inc. | 1.0% | 10/12/2016 | $0.00 |
| MGRC | McGrath RentCorp | 3.2% | 10/13/2016 | $0.26 |
| MON | Monsanto Company | 2.1% | 10/5/2016 | $0.49 |
| NTAP | NetApp Inc. | 2.1% | 10/5/2016 | $0.19 |
| PFE | Pfizer Inc. | 3.4% | 11/8/2016 | $0.30 |
| RTN | Raytheon Company | 2.0% | 10/3/2016 | $0.73 |
| VZ | Verizon Communications Inc. | 4.3% | 10/5/2016 | $0.58 |
| Ticker | Company Name | Dividend Yield | Ex-Dividend | Payment |
| AEO | American Eagle Outfitters Inc. | 2.7% | 10/5/2016 | $0.12 |
| AMAT | Applied Materials Inc. | 1.3% | 11/22/2016 | $0.10 |
| BFS | Saul Centers Inc. | 2.7% | 10/12/2016 | $0.47 |
| BMY | Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 2.7% | 10/5/2016 | $0.38 |
| BRX | Brixmor Property Group Inc. | 3.4% | 10/3/2016 | $0.25 |
| CPB | Campbell Soup Company | 2.3% | 10/7/2016 | $0.34 |
| GGP | General Growth Properties Inc. | 2.6% | 10/12/2016 | $0.20 |
| GRMN | Garmin Ltd. | 4.2% | 12/12/2016 | $0.51 |
| WSBF | Waterstone Financial Inc. | 1.4% | 10/6/2016 | $0.08 |
| Ticker | Company Name | Dividend Yield | Ex-Dividend | Payment |
| APA | Apache Corp. | 1.7% | 10/19/2016 | $0.25 |
| CAG | ConAgra Foods Inc. | 2.3% | 10/27/2016 | $0.26 |
| DVN | Devon Energy Corp. | 2.0% | 12/13/2016 | $0.06 |
| FE | FirstEnergy Corp. | 4.2% | 11/3/2016 | $0.36 |
| HP | Helmerich & Payne Inc. | 4.8% | 11/8/2016 | $0.70 |
| KRG | Kite Realty Group Trust | 3.9% | 10/4/2016 | $0.29 |
| LM | Legg Mason Inc. | 2.4% | 10/4/2016 | $0.22 |
| NI | NiSource Inc | 2.5% | 10/27/2016 | $0.17 |
| NYT | New York Times Company | 1.3% | 10/3/2016 | $0.04 |
| UDR | UDR Inc. | 3.1% | 10/6/2016 | $0.30 |
As you can see, there are plenty of promising dividend stocks to buy, but there are also many pitfalls here. As always, you should continue running your holdings through both Portfolio Grader and Dividend Grader to make sure that you’re only holding top-rated stocks.
Sincerely,
Louis Navellier