Top Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014

By: Jake Mann

In search of dividend stocks, there are many ways to parse down the data. Searching for high yielders with rock bottom payout ratios is one way to find promising dividend growth stocks. We can also find interesting investing ideas by selecting long-term dividend stocks-those that have raised dividends in 50 or more consecutive years-with multiple insiders buying over the past six months.

Diebold

Security and services company Diebold (DBD) is simply a dividend beast. It has raised dividends in 60 consecutive years and currently offers a yield of 3.8%. Over the past three months, two insiders, CEO Andreas Mattes and VP John Kristoff, have bought Diebold stock. Mattes currently owns about $824K worth of the stock while Kristoff's position is a bit smaller, and in the entire year of 2013, Board members Rajesh Soin and Henry Wallace have also initiated purchases here.

With four unique executives buying in the calendar year and two of these taking place very recently, Diebold is in an attractive spot. Multiple empirical studies show that insider activity like this is the best for piggyback investors to pay attention to (learn how some insider trades beat the market).

Top India Companies To Buy For 2015: JDS Uniphase Corporation(JDSU)

JDS Uniphase Corporation provides communications test and measurement solutions, and optical products for telecommunications service providers, wireless operators, cable operators, network-equipment manufacturers, and enterprises worldwide. The company?s Communications Test and Measurement segment supplies instruments, software, and services to enable the design, deployment, and maintenance of communication equipment and networks. Its product portfolio consists of test tools, platforms, software, and services for wireless and fixed networks. The company?s Communications and Commercial Optical Products segment offers components, modules, subsystems, and solutions that are used by communications equipment providers for telecommunications and enterprise data communications. This segment?s products comprise transmitters, receivers, amplifiers, ROADMs, optical transceivers, multiplexers and demultiplexers, switches, optical-performance monitors and couplers, splitters, and circ ulators, which enable the transmission of video, audio, and text data through fiber-optic cables. It also provides various laser products, including diode, direct-diode, diode-pumped solid-state, fiber, and gas lasers for micromachining, materials processing, bioinstrumentation, consumer electronics, graphics, medical/dental, and optical pumping; and photovoltaic products, such as concentrated photovoltaic cells and receivers for generating energy from sunlight, as well as fiber optic-based systems for delivering and measuring electrical power. The company?s Advanced Optical Technologies segment offers optical solutions for security and brand-differentiation applications; and thin film coatings for a range of public and private-sector markets. This segment also provides multilayer product-security solutions that deliver overt, covert, forensic, and digital product and document verification. JDS Uniphase Corporation was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Milpitas, Califo rnia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But recent good news from Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN  ) has Finisar investors looking for better times ahead. Earlier this month, Ciena's stock jumped 17% after the company reported a 6% increase in sales, pointing to a revival in spending on network infrastructure. Comments from Ciena CEO Gary Smith suggest strength not just for his own company but also for the industry as a whole, and that sent both Finisar and larger rival JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU  ) higher on the news. JDS Uniphase issued a fairly weak earnings and outlook early last month, needing to temper expectations for a revival in its own sales during the current quarter. As a result, Ciena's news came as a pleasant surprise for the industry, and with Finisar counting Ciena as a customer, Ciena's success reflects directly on Finisar.

• [By FinanceGuru]

  Compelling product and customer base Finisar appears to have one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry. While the firm does have a number of potent competitors, notably JDS Uniphase (JDSU) in the telecom space and Avago (AVGO) in the datacom space, it appears that no other company matches the breadth of Finisar's product offerings across both of these segments.

• [By Stephen Simpson, CFA]

  PCTEL's other major business is in test equipment, particularly scanning receivers that are used to monitor, optimize, and diagnose problems in wireless networks. While this is a smaller market (by at least an order of magnitude), the company has carved out a good niche against rivals like Anritsu and JDSU (JDSU).

Top Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: ENSCO plc(ESV)

Ensco plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services to the oil and gas industry. The company engages in the drilling of offshore oil and natural gas wells by providing its drilling rigs and crews under contracts with international, government-owned, and independent oil and gas companies. As of February 15, 2010, it owned and operated 42 jackup rigs, 4 ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs, and 1 barge rig. The company also has 4 ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs under construction. It operates in Asia, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, and North and South America. The company was formerly known as Ensco International plc and changed its name to Ensco plc in March 2010. Ensco plc was founded in 1975 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  The question for investors is if the industry can handle all of this new capacity over the long term. Transocean (NYSE: RIG  ) �has seven new ultra-deepwater rigs under construction,�Ensco (NYSE: ESV  ) �is building four, and Noble (NYSE: NE  ) �will add five in coming years. Adding that much capacity means that $600,000 daily rates may not last forever, which would lower return on investment for everyone.�

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Transocean are unchanged at $40.47 today, while Ensco (ESV) has risen 0.7% to $52.43, Atwood Oceanics (ATW) is little changed at $49.47,�Diamond Offshore�(DO) has risen 0.4% to $47.02 and� Seadrill (SDRL), whose strategy Transocean may be following, has ticked up 0.2% to $34.30.

• [By Daniel Gibbs]

  Illustration
  To illustrate this concept and examine how it can be a risk, let's take a look at the debt-to-equity ratios of several offshore drilling companies. The five companies that we will compare are Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL  ) , Transocean (NYSE: RIG  ) , Ensco (NYSE: ESV  ) , Noble, and Diamond Offshore.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Off-shore contact drilling service provider Ensco (ESV) raised its quarterly dividend 50% to 75 cents per share, payable on Dec. 20 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 9.
  ESV Dividend Yield: 4.90%
  

Top Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: The Cushing MLP Total Return Fund(SRV)

Cushing MLP Total Return Fund is a closed-end mutual fund launched by Swank Capital, LLC. The fund is managed by Swank Energy Income Advisors L.P. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe with a focus in United States. The fund typically invests in MLPs, Other Natural Resource Companies, and global commodities. It primarily invests in the securities of MLPs, other equity securities, debt securities, and securities of non-U.S. issuers employing a fundamental analysis. Cushing MLP Total Return Fund was formed on May 23, 2007 and is domiciled in Dallas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  As I write this, Tortoise Pipeline and Energy (NYSE: TTP) trades at a discount of 15.1 percent to its underlying assets, while at the other end of the spectrum Cushing MLP Total Return Fund (NYSE: SRV) trades at a 17.4 percent premium. The average MLP closed-end fund listed trades at a 4.9 percent discount, which is perhaps reasonable given the loss of certain tax advantages and the fact that management fees will eat into returns.

Top Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: People's United Financial Inc.(PBCT)

People?s United Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for People?s United Bank that provides commercial banking, retail and business banking, and wealth management services to individual, corporate, and municipal customers. Its Commercial Banking segment provides commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate lending, and commercial deposit gathering services, as well as equipment financing, cash management, correspondent banking, and municipal banking services. The company?s Retail and Business Banking segment offers consumer and business deposit gathering services; consumer lending products, including residential mortgage, home equity, and indirect auto lending; business lending; and merchant services. Its Wealth Management segment provides trust services, corporate trust, brokerage, financial advisory services, investment management services, and life insurance and other insurance services, as well as private banking services. The company also offers online and telephone banking, and investment trading services, and automated teller machine (ATM) services. As of March 31, 2011, it operated a network of approximately 341 branches, including full-service supermarket branches, investment and brokerage offices, and commercial banking offices, as well as approximately 518 automated teller machines in Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1842 and is headquartered in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of People's United Financial Inc. (PBCT). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis:

Top Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company(DD)

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company operates as a science and technology company worldwide. It operates in seven segments: Agriculture & Nutrition, Electronics & Communications, Performance Chemicals, Performance Coatings, Performance Materials, Safety & Protection, and Pharmaceuticals. The Agriculture & Nutrition segment provides hybrid seed corn and soybean seed, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, value enhanced grains, and soy protein under the Pioneer brand name. The Electronics & Communications segment supplies materials and systems for photovoltaic products, consumer electronics, displays, and advanced printing. The Performance Chemicals segment offers fluorochemicals, fluoropolymers, specialty and industrial chemicals, and white pigments for various markets, such as plastics and coatings, textiles, mining, pulp and paper, water treatment, and healthcare. The Performance Coatings segment supplies high performance liquid and powder coatings for motor vehicle origi nal equipment manufacturers (OEM); the motor vehicle after-market; and general industrial applications, such as such as coatings for heavy equipment, pipes and appliances, and electrical insulation. The Performance Materials segment provides polymers, elastomers, films, parts, and systems and solutions for the automotive OEM and associated after-market industries, as well as electrical, electronics, packaging, construction, oil, photovoltaics, aerospace, chemical processing, and consumer durable goods. The Safety & Protection segment primarily offers nonwovens, aramids, and solid surfaces for the construction, transportation, communications, industrial chemicals, oil and gas, electric utilities, automotive, manufacturing, defense, homeland security, and safety consulting industries. The Pharmaceuticals segment represents its interest in the collaboration relating to Cozaar/Hyzaar antihypertensive drugs. The company was founded in 1802 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Dela ware.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  DuPont (NYSE: DD) cut its profit guidance for the second-quarter and year. DuPont shares dropped 2.07% to $66.30 in the after-hours trading session.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Chemically bonding to a better stock exchange
  DuPont (NYSE: DD  ) is the oldest continuously operating company of all the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) components. Founded in 1802 as a gunpowder maker, DuPont would grow to become America's premier chemical company by the turn of the 20th century. However, DuPont would also spend significant time trading on over-the-counter exchanges, which was not altogether uncommon for larger companies a century ago. DuPont began paying dividends in 1904, but it was another 18 years before it finally joined the New York Stock Exchange, which occurred on May 25, 1922. By this point, DuPont was already one of the largest companies in the United States, with substantial investments in the automotive industry.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  While this ruling is minor in terms of the $84,000 judgment Monsanto will receive from the farmer, what it does is protect the company's cash flows from its growing portfolio of genetically engineered seeds. That patent protection is important ��earlier this year, the company struck a deal with DuPont (NYSE: DD  ) in which the chemical manufacturer will pay it $1.75 billion�in a licensing deal. In addition, the two companies would drop the standing law suits held against each other. Instead of competing they will be collaborating, with DuPont gaining access to key patents in the Monsanto portfolio.