Best Dividend Stocks 2012
Highest Paying Dividend Stocks
The table below shows the symbols and vital statistics for some of the highest-paying dividend stocks in the market (within our database of approximately 3000 symbols roughly corresponding to the Russell-3000 index). They're sorted by the dividend yield. The stock scan is designed to filter out the fluff, limiting the results to the "biggest" dividend-paying stocks, i.e., those with substantial trading volume (averaging over 1M shares traded per day).
Trading-wise, in addition to a high dividend, stocks should also be in a reasonable flat or upward trend, as compared to a downtrend. A little technical analysis can go a long way. Be sure to look at the Relative Strength (RS) rankings and the Accumulation/Distribution (A/D) percentages before making any trading decisions. You can also look at the charts (highly recommended) by clicking on the symbols.
Stock Picks - Best Dividend Stocks
Stocks with high dividends can be an important part of a balanced portfolio. The best dividend stocks can make an excellent long-term investment. You'll need to look up the specific dividend yields for the symbols in the above list - however this information is readily available on Google. Just search on the symbol and the word 'dividend', i.e., "AGNC dividend" (but without the quotes) and click the first result, which will probably be either Google Finance, or dividend.com. Either one will work.
Background - What Are Dividends In Stocks?
A dividend is simply a payment form a corporation to a shareholder. It can be a cash dividend, or sometimes additional shares are issued in lieu of cash - in that case it's called a stock dividend. Usually it's a recurring quarterly payment. The company will set the so-called record date; you need to be on record as owning the shares as of the record date to receive the dividend. When a record date is set for a dividend payment the stock exchange will set the so-called ex-dividend date, which is normally 2 business days prior to the record date. The extra time allows for the mechanics of clearing the stock trade. Note that if you sell a stock prior to the ex-dividend date you will not receive the dividend.
Dividend Yield Calculator
A stock's dividend yield is calculated as the annual dividend per share divided by the current share price. It's also sometimes calculated as the total annual dividend payment to all shareholders divided by the market capitalization (which is the price of the stock multiplied by the total number of shares in the float).
The list is updated every 30 minutes courtesy of the GigaScanner stock screener and is the result of a pre-determined stock screen. The GigaScanner control panel is also available (free) for custom stock-screening. Set the dropdown boxes as desired and hit the UPDATE SCREEN button to run a fresh screen. Then use the FWD and BACK buttons to flip through a sorted list of charts. Pretty simple, considering that the GigaScanner is possibly the World's Best online chart-based tool for screening, scanning, filtering, and sorting stocks.
Chart Settings
Click on a symbol to pop-up a chart. The list is updated intraday (every 30 minutes) and is subject to change, so check back often.
The header block shows the stock name, symbol, date, open, high, low, close, volume, and price change, followed by the earnings per share rank, relative strength rank, accumulation-distribution percentage, market cap, average volume, and percentage the current price is from the all-time high.
The relative strength rank is plotted as an indicator in a window at the top, in black, and below that is the price chart, in candlestick format. The 50-day and 200-day eXponential Moving Averages (XMAs) of price overlay the candlesticks in blue and red, respectively. The volume histogram bars are plotted under the price bars, logarithmically-scaled, with the 17-day XMA of volume overlaid in blue
Note: The price candlesticks feature our proprietary Climax Low buy signals and Climax High sell signals (when present). These proprietary signals are the result of many years of research; they can be phenomenally accurate, and should not be overlooked. There's also an occasional green candlestick, which represents a new high in price.