Worth Watching Stocks – Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
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.
Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) traded 68,077,947 shares on last trading session with closing price of $23.85.
BAC was trading -7.56% below its 52-week high and 100.19% above its 52-week low. Its last 5-Year EPS growth stands at 182.40%; with earnings growth of 42.50% yoy. The stock stands -0.28% below the average-price of 50 days and 2.81% compared with the SMA 20.
The stock has a 1-year performance up 71.30% and a positive weekly performance at 0.85%. Moreover, the stock is up 1.75% in one month through last close, to $23.85, showing a 5.29% return during the past three months. The company is set at a mean analysts’ recommendation of 2.10.
BAC has been paying dividends since 1903 and has raised their dividend for 3 consecutive years. It has a dividend yield of 1.30% and a 5 year dividend growth rate of 72.50%. Their payout ratio is 22.00%.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) shares moved to $38.29 after opening the day at $38.38, on Thursday. The stock floated in a price range of $37.90 to $38.67, with market capitalization of $177.91B. The stock exchanged hands with 17,684,240 shares higher as compared to its average daily volume of 15.84M shares. If we take a look on its volatility, 1.75 percent was seen in a week and for the month it was 1.63 percent.
The company’s net profit margin stands at 11.10% whereas its return on equity (ROE) is 16.90%. It has 4.73B of outstanding shares and its shares float measured at 4.32B. The average analysts gave this company a mean recommendation of 1.80.
CMCSA first paid dividend in 2008 and has increased their dividend for 8 straight years. They have a dividend yield of 1.60% and a 5 year dividend growth rate of 18.28%.