Dividends can produce as much as a third of your total return over long periods, and you can even retire on dividends.
There are 4 key stock dividend dates that are involved with dividend payments:
1- The Declaration Date is several weeks in advance of a dividend payment—it’s when company’s board of directors sets the amount and timing of the proposed payment.
2- The Payable Date is the date set by the board on which the dividend will actually be paid out to shareholders.
3- The Record Date is for shareholders who hold the stock before the payable date and receive the dividend payment. That date is set any number of weeks before the payable date.
4-The Ex-Dividend Date is two business days before the record date and it’s when the shares begin to trade without their dividend. If you buy stocks one day or more before their ex-dividend date, you will still get the dividend. That’s when a stock is said to trade cum-dividend. If you buy on the ex-dividend date or later, you won’t get the dividend. The ex-dividend date is in place to allow pending stock trades to settle.
We think very highly of stocks that have been paying dividends for five or more years, at TSI Network. Many of these stocks fit in well with our three-part Successful Investor philosophy:
1- Invest mainly in well-established companies;
2- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities);
3- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
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However, the company’s earnings declined 12.3%, to $61.9 million from $70.6 million, due to lower profits from joint ventures and higher interest costs and taxes. Per-share earnings rose 2.0%, to $1.03 from $1.01, on fewer shares outstanding.
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Higher oil and gas prices have spurred demand for Precision’s drilling services. As a result, its revenue rose 12.8% in the first quarter of 2014, to $672.2 million from $595.7 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 8.8%, to $101.6 million from $93.3 million. Per-share earnings rose 6.1%, to $0.35 from $0.33, on more shares outstanding.
In response to stronger-than-expected drilling activity, Precision now plans to spend $833 million to build and upgrade rigs in 2014, up 31.4% from its earlier forecast of $634 million. Drillers have already signed contracts for these new rigs, which cuts the risk of this investment.
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Wholly owned AltaLink provides electricity to 85% of Alberta’s population through 12,000 kilometres of power lines and 280 substations.
The company will receive $3.2 billion (or $2.9 billion after taxes). The transaction should close by the end of this year.
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The oil sands account for 70% of the company’s output. It also operates offshore platforms in Atlantic Canada and the North Sea, as well as conventional wells in Libya. However, political unrest has shut down some of Libya’s ports, limiting Suncor’s crude exports from the country.
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U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta. These properties produce heavy bitumen, which Cenovus ships to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX) owns the other 50% of these refineries. In 2013, refining accounted for 66% of Cenovus’s revenue and 40% of its earnings.
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The company lost $92.6 million, or $1.88 a share, in 2013. That’s a big drop from the $25.2 million, or $0.29 a share, it earned in 2012. Revenue fell 6.3%, to $200.7 million from $214.2 million.
The declines are mainly because weak commodity prices hurt the contribution of Dundee’s resource holdings. As well, fewer firms issued shares in 2013, which hurt profits at its Dundee Securities brokerage firm. The company is also spending more to expand its agriculture businesses, which further depressed results.
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This strong demand should prompt Trans- Canada to expand the ANR line over the next few years. That would let it handle rising production at the Utica and Marcellus shale gas fields in New York State and Pennsylvania.
TransCanada is a buy....