The Dividend Guy has been very generous. He has provided me an excellent guest post for you over on The Dividend Pig. The post is from a chapter of his new eBook, and is titled: Four Quadrants for a Better Understanding of Your Portfolio. It’s a great post with an easy to use analysis that will help you become a better investor. It will help you become more informed about the dividend stocks you purchase. That analysis involves the use of quadrants. The material comes from Mike’s new eBook, Dividend Growth: Freedom Through Passive Income. In this article, Mike uses quadrants to analyze and compare:  dividend yield, dividend growth, and payout ratios. He shows you how to apply quadrants in comparing these ratios. It’s not overly complex, and when you see the methodology, you will quickly realize how effective of a tool it is to help you initially select quality dividend stocks. From his new eBook, Mike writes: Quadrants have been used over and over for several purposes. Companies ...

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Life isn’t perfect and for whatever reason we purchase stocks we shouldn’t have bought, lured in by the high yield, or still hang on to stocks we should have sold. Investor confidence in a company can be sudden and swift. In the case of TransAlta Corp (TA) for example (which I don’t own) this was pointed out in a recent post by John Heinzl. Management decisions over the sale of the  Sundance coal plants, and the looming threat of a dividend cut, have pummelled the stock price. TA closed at $16.81 per share today, down -20.5% from a recent high of $21.15 per share on February 26th. Back in October, TransAlta was trading over $23 per share. As well as the dividend yield now close to 7%, investors have also been concerned with TransAlta’s high dividend payout ratio at 89.2%, which is high even for a utility – it used to be over 100%! Pengrowth Energy (PGF), a smaller oil and gas producer with a crashing share price (one of my smaller holdings), has left the dividend yield ...

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Written by Hank Coleman There is a lot of talk about great dividend stocks to purchase for the long-term. But, how do you weed out the great dividend paying stocks from the hundreds of good or mediocre ones? There are a few key metrics that dividend investors need to consider before purchasing their first share. Here are a few of the biggest metrics to consider. Dividend Yield Dividend yield is simply the annual amount of dividends per year per share dividend by the price per share of the company’s stock. For example, Apple recently announced that it was issuing a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share or $10.60 per share annually. With Apple’s share price currently hovering around $600 per share, its dividend yield is 1.76%. A company’s dividend yield provides investors with a way to visually see how much of their investment is being returned to them each year in the form of dividends issued by the company. Dividend Growth Rate Another key dividend metric that investors should consider ...

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If the title wasn’t a giveaway we really haven’t had a great summer here in Vancouver, cloudy and cool with the occasional sunny day. This certainly isn’t he kind of weather to curl up in a hammock, and read a good book. It’s no wonder people are going south to soak up some sun Andrew Hallam in MoneySense [easyazon-image-link asin="0470830069" alt="Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41SEzHEVySL.jpg" align="left" width="167" height="250"]I was delighted to receive my issue of MoneySense Magazine this month, and read the segment they published from Andrew Hallam’s new book Millionaire Teacher. If you don’t subscribe to MoneySense Magazine, I do suggest you go out to the newsstand (in Canada) and get yourself a copy. Andrew is certainly one of the best financial bloggers and writers out there, and he has received praise from other leading financial writers as well. Back in June I had the ...

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This article was published in the July/August 2011 edition of the Canadian MoneySaver, and is posted here with permission. For more information visit www.canadianmoneysaver.ca Many dividend investors go to great lengths to screen dividend stocks. If you stick with the big dividend aristocrats or other big blue chips, you will do just fine. Some of these companies have been paying dividends for over 50 to 100 years! The economic stability of a company like that, which also increases its dividends year after year, is money in the bank. This is what most dividend investors look for, and it is the basis of Dividend Growth Investing. However, many good dividend paying stocks are not big blue chips with a significant dividend history, but may present good investment opportunity. They are usually higher yield stocks with smaller capitalization, but companies with a solid business plan, good management, and several years of operating revenue. The question is whether that company is a sound investment, ...

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