Traders Recap – Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS)
Many investors think of dividend-paying companies as boring, low-return investment opportunities. Compared to high-flying small cap companies, whose volatility can be pretty exciting, dividend-paying stocks are usually more mature and predictable. Though this may be dull for some, the combination of a consistent dividend with an increasing stock price can offer earnings potential powerful enough to get excited about. Once a company makes a profit, management must decide on what to do with those profits. They could continue to retain the profits within the company, or they could pay out the profits to the owners of the firm in the form of dividends.
Once the company decides on whether to pay dividends they may establish a somewhat permanent dividend policy, which may in turn impact on investors and perceptions of the company in the financial markets. What they decide depends on the situation of the company now and in the future. It also depends on the preferences of investors and potential investors. The good part about the dividend growth strategy is that investors receive cash in their brokerage accounts from their dividend paying stocks. This allows them to have the necessary resources available for opportunities present during recessions for example.
The following stocks have raised dividends each year for several years in a row.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded 45,546,318 shares on last trading session with closing price of $147.06.
AAPL was trading -0.70% below its 52-week high and 66.83% above its 52-week low. Its last 5-Year EPS growth stands at 16.00%; with earnings growth of 2.30% yoy. The stock stands 4.09% above the average-price of 50 days and 2.65% compared with the SMA 20.
The stock has a 1-year performance up 57.77% and a positive weekly performance at 2.35%. Moreover, the stock is up 2.34% in one month through last close, to $147.06, showing a 14.72% return during the past three months. The company is set at a mean analysts’ recommendation of 2.00.
AAPL has been paying dividends since 1990 and has raised their dividend for 4 consecutive years. It has a dividend yield of 1.70% and a 5 year dividend growth rate of 0.00%. Their payout ratio is 27.00%.
AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) shares moved to $5.93 after opening the day at $6.17, on Wednesday. The stock floated in a price range of $5.88 to $6.21, with market capitalization of $1.87B. The stock exchanged hands with 16,400,881 shares lower as compared to its average daily volume of 20.17M shares. If we take a look on its volatility, 4.60 percent was seen in a week and for the month it was 6.55 percent.
The company’s net profit margin stands at 1.20% whereas its return on equity (ROE) is -14.90%. It has 315.66M of outstanding shares and its shares float measured at 310.11M. The average analysts gave this company a mean recommendation of 2.60.
AKS first paid dividend in 1995 and has increased their dividend for 0 straight years. They have a dividend yield of 0.00% and a 5 year dividend growth rate of 1.67%.