4 Dividend Stocks Showing You the Money

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz | More Articles
June 1, 2010 | Comments (5)

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Not every company is slashing its dividend these days. Some of the market's better performers are easing up on their purse strings. Motley Fool Income Investor readers can get behind that kind of thinking, so let's take a closer look at four of the companies that inched their payouts higher this past week.

Let's start with UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) . The health-care giant will now pay shareholders $0.125 a share every three months. That's quite the upgrade, since UnitedHealth was shelling out a mere $0.03 annually for several years until last week's move.

Ketchup king H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ ) is no rotten tomato. The food company is giving its quarterly dividend a 7% boost to $0.45 a share. That may not seem like much, but income investors realize that the company's policies are a lot like its slow-rolling ketchup: Good things come to those who wait. Over the past seven years, Heinz's distributions have risen by almost 67%.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM ) is also sprucing up its look. The housewares retailer is giving its quarterly distributions a 15% bump to $0.15 a share. Things must be looking up at Williams-Sonoma, because this is the second time this year that the chain has improved its rate.

Finally, we have Lowe's (NYSE: LOW ) on the move. The home-improvement retailer is nailing together a 22% upgrade, for a quarterly payout of $0.11 a share. Lowe's has a multidecade streak of paying out increasing dividends each year, when you consider stock splits along the way.

Some of these moves may not seem like much, but it's clearly better to see companies increasing their yields than slashing them. Farming-equipment juggernaut Deere (NYSE: DE ) and pharmaceuticals provider McKesson (NYSE: MCK ) have also bumped up their payouts in recent days.

Subscribers to Income Investor appreciate the companies that send more and more money to their investors. The newsletter singles out companies that are committed to growing their distributions with market-thumping results.

Want to see what's being recommended these days? Give the newsletter service a shot with a 30-day trial subscription. Who knows? Maybe the next thing to get a boost will be your interest.

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Lowe's and UnitedHealth Group are Motley Fool Inside Value choices. McKesson and UnitedHealth Group are Motley Fool Stock Advisor selections. H.J. Heinz is a Motley Fool Income Investor pick. The Fool owns shares of UnitedHealth Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz pays attention to yield signs. He owns no shares in any of the companies in this story and is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

Read/Post Comments (5) | Recommend This Article (5)

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Report this Comment On June 01, 2010, at 11:30 AM, pondee619 wrote:

Those Motely Fools, at it again. HNZ either has little to relish or an ever increasing dividend. Take a pass on HNZ or buy it for the dividend, you'll notice that nowhere does a fool state if the stock's prospective total return is worth your money.
After this series of articles, are you really better informed, or are These Motely Fools just playing both sides of the street?
Take a Pass on This Food Stock
By Mike Pienciak
May 28, 2010:
"As an investment, Heinz offers little to relish"
4 Dividend Stocks Showing You the Money
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
June 1, 2010:
"Over the past seven years, Heinz's distributions have risen by almost 67%."
Report this Comment On June 01, 2010, at 5:44 PM, Diagoras wrote:

@pondee619 Different writers have different opinions on Heinz, even though they may both be writing for TMF. It's not as though one author is writing both articles from different viewpoints.
Report this Comment On June 02, 2010, at 8:21 AM, pondee619 wrote:

Diagoras:
Yes. That was my point. This site is not THE Motley Fool (as advertised), it is THOSE/THESE Motley FOOLS. The Fool was the ONE person in the King's Court who could tell the truth to the King and keep his head. All other members told the king what He wanted to hear. This site promoted itself on being that Fool. The One person who would tell you he truth whether you liked it or not. As it turns out, it is just another site populated with fools saying everything about everything. These fools are at it again, contradicting themselves only a few days apart. Heinz either has little to relish (sell or don't buy) or is a good dividend play (hold or buy). The Fool would tell us which. These fools tell us both.
The Fool is dead, long live these fools?
BTW: After this series of articles, are you really better informed, or are These Motley Fools just playing both sides of the street? You didn't answer the question.
Report this Comment On June 02, 2010, at 9:47 PM, mjs28s wrote:

pondee619:
I don't think that the intent of this article is to tell you what you should be doing for your investing plan. It is more informational.
It took me a mere 5 minutes to check out HNZ since it was your focus and while over the last 10 years the S&P500 was flat HNZ had capital appreciation around 20%. If you add in the dividends paid out you have around 60% gain ($7 from price appreciation and $14.88 from dividends up to March this year).
Just consider the stories as informational only and when, or if, you find a compelling investment research it and make your decision as to what you are going to do.
Report this Comment On June 03, 2010, at 8:28 AM, pondee619 wrote:

mjs28s:
"If you add in the dividends paid out you have around 60% gain " OK. So HNZ has lots to relish and Mike Pienciak on May 28, 2010 was just blowing smoke?
These Motley Fools are playing both sides of the trade. Have been for a long time and will probably continue to do so. Take a pass on this dividend stock showing you the money.
BTW: After this series of articles, are you really better informed?

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