All posts by Tim Plaehn

Tim Plaehn is the lead investment research analyst for income and dividend investing at Investors Alley. He is the editor for The Dividend Hunter, an investment advisory delivering income investments with double digit growth in share price and dividend payments, and 30 Day Dividends, a specialty income service that takes advantage of opportunities for relatively fast, attractive profits around potential dividend payouts. Prior to his work with Investors Alley, Tim was a stock broker, a Certified Financial Planner, and F-16 Fighter pilot and instructor with the United States Air Force. During his time in the service he was stationed at various military locations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Tim graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a degree in mathematics. Learn about Tim's new investment strategy for collecting income from the market each and every month without the use of options, futures, forex, covered calls, or risky trading strategies.

Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks to Survive Split Government

The midterm elections left the U.S. with the House of Representatives controlled by the Democrats, Republicans tightened their hold on the Senate, and President Trump has the bully pulpit and veto power. That is a formula for real bi-partisan compromise or a government that will have trouble just passing a budget. I will be a skeptic until proven otherwise.

On the stock market front, a deadlocked government means that stocks will be evaluated more on their fundamentals, and not on whether new government policies will help or hurt. It will be a good time to be a dividend focused investor.

Here are three ongoing economic trends and an income stock that is a way to play each trend.

The Federal Reserve Board will continue to increase short term interest rates. The Fed’s primary goal is to keep the economy from overheating and bring on a high level of inflation. Higher rates will also give the Fed the tool of rate cuts to soften the next recession.

Out in the real world, higher interest rates mean that the recent trend of the preference to rent housing vs. buying a house will continue. Among those that rent, 78% of tenants believe that renting is more affordable than owning, up significantly this year.

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB) is a large-cap apartment REIT. The company develops, owns and manages apartment communities primarily in New England, the New York/New Jersey metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern and Southern California.

As of the end of September Avalon had direct or indirect ownership interest in 290 apartment communities containing 84,490 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Another 34 communities were in development or redevelopment.

For the 2019 third quarter, the company reported same store net operating income growth of 3.1%. Average blended rent growth was 3.2%. These are strong, sustainable numbers.

The AVB dividend has a five-year average annual growth rate of 8.0%. The current yield is 3.3%.

Growing energy production from renewable sources is supported across the political spectrum. Another factor is that the cost of development of wind or solar power facilities has declined to a level where they are competitive with construction of new traditional fuel power plants.

This means that new renewable energy projects do not need government subsidies to compete. Yieldco types of companies are the final owners of many renewable energy projects. These are great income stocks with built in growth prospects.

Clearway Energy (NYSE: CWEN) is a renewable energy Yieldco where the controlling party recently changed. Clearway was founded as NRG Yield by utility company NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) and the utility developed renewable projects to sell to the Yieldco.

In August 2018 NRG sold its sponsor interest in NRG Yield to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a private investment company that makes equity investments in a range of infrastructure assets. The change of control does not affect Clearways prospects to continue annual 5% to 8% dividend growth.

Current yield is 6.7%.

Renewable energy is growing, but so is U.S. onshore crude oil production. The growth in oil production from the Permian Basin is truly amazing, going from one million barrels per day in 2011 to 3.5 million bpd in 2018 and a forecast 3.9 mbd in 2019. I have seen forecasts of 7 mbd by the middle of the next decade.

The limiting factor to this oil gusher is pipeline take away capacity to refiners and the Gulf Coast export terminals. The region needs over one million barrels per day of new pipeline capacity – which will come on line in late 2019. By then more pipeline capacity will be needed.

Plains All American Pipelines LP (NYSE: PAA) is the largest independent owner of crude oil gathering assets, pipelines and storage terminals. The company just announced its newly commissioned Sunrise Pipeline is transporting 300 to 350 thousand barrels per day of crude oil out of the Permian to the Texas Gulf Coast.

The Plains business model lets it often collect several fees from a barrel of oil. These can be gathering charges, pipeline fees on more than one pipeline, and storage fees.

This MLP has gone through significant restructuring since the energy market crash of 2015-2016 included a pair of distribution reductions. The 2018 third quarter earnings report shows the company is back on a growth trajectory and should start growing dividends in 2019.

PAA currently yields 5.0%.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Buy These 3 High-Yield REITs Raising Dividends in December

We are almost at the end of another year, and I hope your dividend income stream has marched steadily higher throughout 2018.

Tracking your dividend income and managing your portfolio to grow that income makes it easier to go through market corrections like we saw in October.

One bit of assistance I like to provide is to list those real estate investment trusts (REITs) that should announce higher dividend rates in the upcoming months. This knowledge can give you a jump on the rest of investing public, which will be surprised when the positive news is actually announced.

I maintain a database of about 130 REITs. With it I track current yields, dividend growth rates and when these companies usually announced new dividend rates. Most REITs announce a new dividend rate once a year, and then pay that rate for the next four quarters.

Currently about 85 REITs in my database have recent and ongoing histories of dividend growth. Out of that group, higher dividend announcements will happen during almost every month of the year. In the face of market volatility, REIT values have held up reasonably well in 2018.

Related: Buy This 8.4% REIT That’s Raised Dividends Every Quarter

Dividend increases are the best defense against higher market interest rates. Higher dividend announcements may be the catalyst to higher share prices for individual REIT shares.

My list shows several companies that historically announce higher dividends in December and should do so again this year. Investors will start earning the higher payouts in the new year.

Remember, you want to buy shares before the dividend announcement to get the benefit of a share price bump caused by the positive news event.

Here is the list of REITs to consider:

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR) is a large-cap REIT that owns a portfolio of properties leased by companies providing the full range of healthcare services. Ventas has done very well for investors, growing its dividend at a compounding 8% annual rate since 2001.

For the last three years, revenue and cash flow growth has been a challenge across all healthcare REITs. Ventas has sold some assets and used the proceeds to pay down debt. As a result, the company’s balance sheet is stronger, but normalized FFO per share for the first three quarters of 2018 were down 5% compared to the same period in 2017.

Ventas increased the dividend by 2% last year and has sufficient cash flow coverage to announce a similar increase this year.

The next dividend will be declared on about December 10, with a mid-month ex-dividend date and payment at the end of the year.

VTR yields 5.4%.

CubeSmart (NYSE: CUBE) is a mid-cap sized self-storage properties REIT. This has been a fast growth REIT, with the dividend growing by 158% over the last five years.

Growth in the self-storage space has moderated, but this means a decline to high single digit annual growth from the previous double digit per year rates.

Last year the dividend was increased by 11%, right in the middle of my 10% to 12% forecast. This year I expect the dividend go be raised by 5% to 6%.

The new dividend rate will be announced in mid- December. The stock will go ex-dividend at the end of December with payment in mid-January.

CUBE yields 4.1%.

CoreSite Realty Corp (NYSE: COR) is a data center REIT. Data centers are one of, if not the fastest growing REIT subsector. Over the last year the company increased its dividend by 14%.

Free cash flow out which dividends are paid has grown by 13.6% over the last year.

Over the last couple of years CoreSite has been announcing a higher dividend every other quarter. The last increase two quarters ago increased the payment to investors by 5.1%. Another rate bump of 5% to 8% is due.

The next dividend increase should be announced in early December, with ex-dividend at the end of the month and the dividend will be paid in mid-January.

COR yields 4.4%.

Bonus Recommendation: Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE: DEI) is a regionally focused REIT, owning and operating office and multi-family properties in California and Hawaii. The has a strong focus on developing new properties or redeveloping currently owned properties for higher, better use – and rents.

The DEI dividend has been increased every year since 2011. Last year the payout was increased by 8.7%. The five-year compound dividend growth rate is 9.7%.

The current dividend is just 50% of FFO, with cash flow per share growing by about 5% per year.

I forecast another 8% dividend increase to be announced on about December 8. Ex-dividend will be at the end of December and the payment will be in mid-January.

DEI yields 2.8%.

Starting today you can stop worrying about the market and instead fundamentally transform your income stream from a string of near misses to a steady, reliable flow of income right into your bank account.

It all starts with a simple to use, yet powerful calendar – called the The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, like the one below, only with more details. It’s kind of like the one you might have on your desk, only this one tells you when you’ll get paid and how much you’ll receive each and every month.

No more guesswork, no more confusion, no more worrying if you did the right thing… just steady paychecks coming like clockwork…

Paychecks currently averaging $3,453.27 every month. That’s money in the bank for you regardless how volatile remains for the rest of the year.

Get up to 14 dividend paychecks per month from safe, reliable stocks with The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, an easy-to-use system that shows you which dividend stocks to pick, when to buy them, when you get paid your dividends, and how much.  All you have to do is buy the stocks you like and tell them where to send your dividend payments. For more information Click Here.


Source: Investors Alley

Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks to Protect Your Portfolio

The stock market has turned volatile, and the income stock sectors feel downright unwelcoming. Since I have contact with thousands of investors I learn there are a thousand different situations in the market. The investor who bought at a higher price doesn’t like to see the share price drops in his portfolio. Another is expecting a cash infusion next week and hopes prices will stay down until she gets the money and can load up on shares at the current low prices.

I regularly tell my subscribers that you can’t earn dividends unless you own shares of dividend paying stocks. Trying to time the market can easily leave an investor without any shares that are paying dividends. It takes a different mindset to get away from worrying about share prices and to focus on building an income stream. The good part is that when the stock market corrects, or gets scarily volatile, the income investor will continue to rake in dividends. In a choppy market I like to add to those stocks that hit my “sweet spot” combination of current yield and dividend growth.

In a flat or volatile market, cash dividends are real returns, so a higher yield can be viewed as a cushion against share price movement. Dividend growth is a factor that can make a stock more attractive even if the market is not in a share price appreciation mode.

Related: 3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks You Must Own During a Stock Market Crash

One strategy is to find dividend stocks with low yields, such as 3% or less and double digit annual dividend growth. At the other end of the spectrum are the 10% yield stocks, but with little potential for dividend growth.

If stock market returns go flat, I recommend going for the middle ground. Find stocks with attractive yields. In the current market the range would be 5% to 7%. These stocks should to have recent history and prospects of mid to high single digit dividend growth. The dividend payments give you solid cash returns, and the dividend growth prospects can support share prices in a volatile market. In the long run, this combination should produce total annual returns in the low double digits.

Here are three stocks that fit the criteria discussed above:

Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) owns approximately 240 commercial aircraft that are leased to 84 airlines around the world. Aircastle must be nimble to adjust for changing needs for aircraft type and client airlines financial conditions. For example, in 2017, Aircastle purchased 68 aircraft and sold 37.

The business is very profitable. The company generated a 15% return on equity last year and reported adjusted net income of $2.15 per share. The current dividend rate of $1.12 per share per year is well covered by net income and free cash flow.

In recent years, Aircastle has been increasing the quarterly dividend by 7% to 8% per year. The foundation of Aircastle’ s results is the steady growth in international air traffic, which appears to be immune to global economic conditions.

The shares currently yield 5.9%.

Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE: BRX) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns community and neighborhood strip malls. These malls are typically anchored by a grocery store and the tenants are often in businesses that are largely immune from ecommerce sales competition.

In 2017 the company’s board of directors recently shook up the management team, with the goal of more active rental rate management. The REIT’s major tenants are financially strong, but there is a group of weaker tenants with absurdly low rental rates. Replacing these tenants will allow Brixmor to grow revenue and free cash flow.

The company should be able to continue its recent history of 5% to 6% dividend growth.

The BRX shares yield 7.1%.

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE) is an energy sector infrastructure services company. ONEOK focuses on natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company provides gas gathering services in the energy plays, facilities to process NGLs into the different components like ethane and propane, and interstate pipelines to transport natural gas and NGLs to their demand centers.

The growth in gas production has been lost in the news about the U.S. becoming the world’s largest crude oil producer. Oil wells also produce natural gas and NGLs.

ONEOK is the primary, and often the only, company gathering and processing gas in the major crude oil plays.

The company expects to grow its dividend by 8% to 10% per year. OKE currently yields 5.4%.

Starting today you can stop worrying about the market and instead fundamentally transform your income stream from a string of near misses to a steady, reliable flow of income right into your bank account.

It all starts with a simple to use, yet powerful calendar – called the The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, like the one below, only with more details. It’s kind of like the one you might have on your desk, only this one tells you when you’ll get paid and how much you’ll receive each and every month.

No more guesswork, no more confusion, no more worrying if you did the right thing… just steady paychecks coming like clockwork…

Paychecks currently averaging $3,453.27 every month. That’s money in the bank for you regardless how volatile remains for the rest of the year.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Source: Investors Alley 

3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks You Must Own During a Stock Market Crash

With the major stock indexes now in correction territory, there are fears that the market is headed for a full-blown bear market drop of 25% or more. The safe way out is to go to cash, but if you guess wrong you will miss out on further gains as so many people did after the 2008/2009 crash.

Cash also doesn’t earn much. While you may be fearful about the next bear market, it’s likely impossible you will be able to time getting out in time to avoid much of the decline. Another way to prepare for the next bear is to buy shares of stocks that will do better than the market through the next big decline.

It is a fact that in a bear market share prices of almost all stocks will drop. Some a lot and others not so much. My strategy for getting through the bear and survive until the next bull is to own higher yield, dividend paying stocks that will not cut the dividend through the downturn. These stocks should not fall as far. Also, I can take the dividends to average down my share price through the market downturn. Coming out the other side I will have a lower average cost of shares and a much larger dividend income stream. That’s a win-win strategy to get through a bear market.

Related: Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks to Protect Yourself From the Next Recession

Here are three stocks where the dividend is very secure, pay attractive yields. More importantly they should be able to pay the current dividends through any deep and lasting downturn in the stock market. By lasting I mean the average bear market length of nine to 12 months.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD) is a commercial property finance REIT. The book of loans is very conservative with a 62% LTV.

The company’s loan clients are highly motivated to make those payments. In recent years, Starwood has diversified the company with the purchase of a commercial mortgage servicing business and acquiring a portfolio of low income apartment complexes. Both businesses, especially the servicer, will do very well if the economy slows down.

The current $1.92 annual dividend is well covered by a core income run rate of $2.25 per share.

The 9.0% yield means large dividends to reinvest as the share price gets cheaper.

Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) may be my personal favorite stock to buy in a bear market. Aircastle is an aircraft leasing company with client airlines around the world.

The current $1.12 per share annual dividend is backed by about $4.00 per share in free cash flow. This stock got very cheap in the last bear market even though the financial remained rock like.

Picking up AYR shares at the bottom of the bear resulted in gains that were multiples of the share price.

This is a nice 5.9% yield income stock now that gets even more attractive as the share price falls.

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (NYSE: SKT) is the only pure play owner of outlet type shopping centers. In tougher economic times people still like to shop but are more likely to go to an outlet mall to score some deals.

The safety factor of owning shares of Tanger is the company’s track record. This REIT has increased its dividend every year since its 1993 IPO. There have been two severe bear markets in that time, so you can believe that the dividend will be secure and grow.

Tanger is also very conservative in the management of its balance sheet. This should let the company make accretive acquisitions when its competitors become financially distressed.

SKT currently yields 6.5%.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Source: Investors Alley

Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks to Protect Yourself From the Next Recession

The prediction drums of the financial news media continue to grow in volume with predictions of the next economic recession and possible stock bear market. You are probably starting to wonder if these predictions are accurate and if you should make changes in your investment portfolio.

The fact is the economy will go into a recession at some point. The growth and recession cycle of the economy remains intact. The challenge is that no one can accurately predict when the next recession will arrive. You can help your portfolio for when the next downturn will hit with some defensive stock picks.

Keep in mind that a recession is a period of negative economic growth. It is not an economic collapse. Many companies will continue to do well through the downturn. The companies and stocks at risk are those dependent on either strong economic growth or have high debt loads that will crush profits if a company experiences even a minor slowdown in revenue.

Related: 3 Recession Proof High-Yield Dividend Stocks

An economic recession will likely trigger a bear market in the stock market. You can’t avoid a stock portfolio value drawdown, but you want to own shares of companies that will not be negatively affected by the slower economy. Earning dividends through a market drop and recovery helps you come out of the next recession ahead of the game.

I personally think we are two to three years or longer out from the next economic slowdown. I could be wrong. If you believe the next recession is right around the corner, or out in the more distant future, it would not hurt to have some dividend paying, recession resistant investments in your portfolio. Here are three to consider.

When the economy runs into trouble, it most effects individuals who can lose jobs, see pay cuts, or even not be able to make house payments. Young workers may move back in with their parents. These individual problems are good for the local self-storage locations.

Extra Space Storage (NYSE: EXR) owns or manages almost 1,600 self-storage properties with 115 million rentable square feet. EXR is a real estate investment trust, which means it must pay out the majority of net income as dividends to investors.

This company is conservatively managed, with a focus on growing the dividends paid to investors. The EXR dividend has grown by a compounded 12% annual rate over the last decade. In a recession, Extra Space will be able to keep its properties fully rented and also be able to buy additional properties that are less well run.

EXR currently yields 4.0%.

Even in tough times people will find the money to pay their utility bills. Utility stocks are viewed as a safe haven by stock market investors, and the belief is justified.

These are the highly-regulated companies that provide electric power, natural gas, and water to homes and commercial customers. The regulatory agencies approve the rates a utility charges. Rates are set so that the utility can cover the infrastructure spending to maintain and upgrade its assets and then earn a fixed rate of return above the necessary capital spending. The locked in regulated profit margins gives a high level of cash flow predictability.

More recession protection: Buy This 8.4% REIT That’s Raised Dividends Every Quarter

For this market sector I like the Reaves Utility Income Fund (NYSE: UTG). This is a closed-end fund that owns a diversified portfolio of utility and related stocks. Reaves Asset Management focuses only on utility and infrastructure stock investments.

UTG has paid a dividend every month since it launched in 2004. That means it operated through the last recession and bear market. The dividend has never been cut and has been increased 10 times.

UTG currently yields 7.0%.

Grocery stores are another recession proof industry. To cover this industry and earn dividends, I like REITs that earn most of their revenue from grocery store anchor tenants.

Brixmor Property Group (NYSE: BRX) owns 471 open air shopping centers. The company focuses on centers that are the center of their communities. Anchor tenants are the main revenue drivers for Brixmor, and over half of those tenants are grocery stores.

The REIT pays out just 54% of FFO, meaning the dividend is secure. The payout to investors has grown by 7% per year.

Current yield is 7.0%. This grocery focused REIT could just help you pay for the groceries through the next economic recession.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Buy These 2 High-Yield Marijuana Dividend Stocks

The countrywide legalization of Cannabis sales on October 17 by Canada has set off a modern gold rush by investors. Since pot is still illegal by Federal law in the U.S. the handful of Canadian cannabis companies that trade over-the-counter in the U.S. and have been bid up to astronomical values.

The belief is that legalization will spread to other countries, and that there is a huge market for cannabis for both therapeutic and recreational uses.

At this point the 10 largest publicly traded Canadian pot companies have a combined market cap over $40 billion. They operate in a market that is forecast to have global sale of $11 billion this year. That’s a lot of hope for the future!

I think that cannabis will be a growth product, but not at the pace envisioned by the investors currently scooping up the Canadian pot stocks. These stocks are in balloon race sized bubble territory and I suspect will eventually come back to earth, with many failings to survive as going entities. I don’t like playing craps with my investment dollars. I live in Nevada, so I can get better odds plus free drinks at the local casino.

Related: Buy These 3 Stocks to Profit From Marijuana Legalization

From 8 Things You May Not Know About the California Gold Rush by the History Channel, we can learn an applicable lesson from numbers six and seven:

  1. Prospecting for gold was a very costly enterprise. I apply this to investors trying to pick winners vs. losers from the new crop of pot producing companies.
  2. More fortunes were made by merchants than by miners. More reliable revenue, growth and profits will likely come from companies that provide the necessary infrastructure and supplies to the pot industry.

With these lessons in mind here are two stocks that should experience growth from the pot boom, and be solid dividend paying companies. I am after all, the Dividend Hunter.

It is very possible that you are familiar with The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG). Scotts is the world’s largest marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products. In the case of the pot market, the company offers the necessary solutions to enhance the abilities of a marijuana business to produce product.

Scott’s Hawthorne division focuses on products for hydroponic and cannabis businesses. Last year the division had 55% of its sales to California pot growers. As cannabis is legalized in more states, so Hawthorne’s market should grow.

While you wait for pot to become the “next big thing” by actually becoming big business, SMG is an attractive dividend stock.

The payout is growing by 5% per year and the shares yield 3.0%.

Innovative Industries Properties (NYSE: IIPR) is a REIT that calls itself “The Leading Provider of Real Estate Capital for the Medical-Use Cannabis Industry.”

The company owns a portfolio of specialized industrial and greenhouse buildings, 100% leased to state-licensed medical-use cannabis growers.

IIPR came to market with a December 2012 IPO. This is a real business with real assets generating real revenue and profits. Results have been very good, and the quarterly dividend has grown from $0.15 per share to start 2017 to $0.35 per share for the dividend paid this month.

The stock currently yields 3.25%.

Get up to 14 dividend paychecks per month from safe, reliable stocks with The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, an easy-to-use system that shows you which dividend stocks to pick, when to buy them, when you get paid your dividends, and how much.  All you have to do is buy the stocks you like and tell them where to send your dividend payments. For more information Click Here.

Buy These 3 REITs Increasing Dividends In November

2018 has been volatile but so far into the year yielded a flat return for income stock investors. If you look at the Vanguard REIT Index Fund (NYSE: VNQ) you see that in 2018 investors have been hot and cold about REITs. Each time the Fed has increased short term rates, REITs have sold off. The result is a sector, including dividends, that is just above breakeven for the past 12 months. Over the same period, the S&P 500 is up over 11%. One way to get capital gains from REITs is to focus on buying those real estate investment trusts that will increase the dividends paid to shareholders.

Most REITs that regularly increase dividends do so once a year, and then pay the new dividend rate for the next four quarters. The timing of dividend increases is not widely followed, so if you know a bump in the payout rate of a REIT is coming soon, you can buy shares before the announcement and have a good chance at a nice share price boost when the new rate becomes actual news.

One of my income stock analysis techniques is to develop and maintain a database of REITs that tracks when during the year they have historically announced new dividend rates.

Currently I have about 130 REITs in the database, and out of those 90 have been increasing their payouts to shareholders.

While these REITs announce new dividend rates once a year, the timing varies. For every month of the year, there are companies that will announce a new rate.

Related: Buy This 8.4% REIT That’s Raised Dividends Every Quarter

Now is the time to look at the REITs that should increase dividends in November.

If you buy shares three to four weeks ahead of the dividend announcement you will be ahead of the crowd. The higher rate should produce a share price increase. In the worst case, your yield will go up compared to the current percentage quoted.

Here are four REITs that will probably announce dividend boosts in November.

Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE: AKR) acquires, redevelops and manages retail properties in the nation’s most dynamic urban and street-retail corridors, including those in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, and Boston.

Acadia Realty will announce its third quarter earnings results at the end of October. The new dividend rate announcement occurs during the first half of November. For the last five years, the dividend has been bumped up by one cent, which would be a 3.7% increase on the current $0.27 per quarter dividend. Payment of the new rate starts in January with a December 31 record date.

This REIT has also paid a special yearend dividend each of the last three out of the last five years.

AKR currently yields 3.6%.

American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AAT) owns, operates, acquires and develops retail, office, multifamily and mixed-use properties in high-barrier-to-entry markets in Southern California, Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Texas and Hawaii.

This REIT has announced a higher dividend in November of each of the last five years. In 2017 the new dividend was 3.8% higher than the old payout.

It looks like this year’s increase will be about 5%. The next dividend announcement will be around November 1 and have a record date of about December 10.

The payment will be just before or just after Christmas.

AAT currently yields 2.9%.

Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE: KIM) owns and manages open air shopping centers. This REIT slashed its dividend in 2009, during the financial crisis, but has increased it every year since then.

Kimco has increased the dividend by 7% on average for the last five years, and in 2017 the payout was increased by 4.2%. The company’s adjusted FFO per share was up flat in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, so this year’s increase will probably be more modest than in the past.

Kimco typically announces a new dividend rate at the end of October or in in very early November with record and payment dates in January.

KIM currently yields 7.1%.

Bonus investment idea:

Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE: KRG) is engaged in the ownership, operation, acquisition, development and redevelopment of neighborhood and community shopping centers in selected markets in the United States.

Kite was forced to slash its dividend rate during the 2007-2008 recession. The company restarted dividend growth in 2014.

The dividend has been increased by 33% since the first quarter of that year and was boosted by 5% last year.

I forecast a more moderate 3% to 5% increase this year. In recent years, Kite Realty announced a dividend increase in the last week of November, with record and payment dates in January.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Dump this Popular High Yielder at Risk of Cutting Dividends

Recently, as part of my ongoing research in the high-yield investment world, a newswire release crossed my screen that had me scratching my head. One reason to invest in a fund-type of product is to diversify and reduce risk. However, this exchange traded note (ETN) that I found seems to be structured in a way that increases the level of risk, rather than reducing risk through diversification. If you own shares in this particular high-yield ETN with hopes that the 10% dividend is secure, think again.

An exchange traded note (ETN) is like an exchange traded fund (ETF) with one big difference. While an ETF is shares in a portfolio of securities, an ETN is an unsecured debt obligation of the issuer.

These notes are not backed by a portfolio of securities. Fund issuers use the ETN structure when there would be structural or tax problems in the construction of an actual securities portfolio. An ETN will track a specified index without actually owning the components of the index. Since an ETN is an unsecured debt obligation of the issuer there is a small, but real risk that the issuer could just fold one of these notes with investors receiving nothing for their shares.

More Reading: Interested in Preferreds? Collect a Safe 8% Yield from this New Preferred Stock ETF

The Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income Index ETN (NYSE: MLPY) tracks the performance of an index composed of higher-yielding publicly traded midstream energy infrastructure companies, including master limited partnerships (MLPs) and non-MLP energy midstream corporations.

The index includes 30 stocks, ranking them by yield. The 10 highest yield stocks get a 5% weight in the index. The next 10 for yield are at 3.5% each, and the bottom 10 as measured by current yield are at 1.5%. What a concept.

The highest yield, meaning the 10 stocks most likely to cut dividend rates make up 50% of the index and the lowest yielding, indicating safety and dividend growth potential, account for 15% of the fund. That is a mathematical recipe for losing money.

To illustrate, here are the latest quarterly dividend coverage ratios of the ten stocks with 5% weightings in the index:

  • Golar LNG Partners LP (Nasdaq: GMLP) covered 56% of its dividend.
  • Buckeye Partners LP (NYSE: BPL) had 87% coverage.
  • NGL Energy Partners LP (NYSE: NGL) covered 44%.
  • USA Compression Partners LP (NYSE: USAC) had 109% coverage. This is the coverage you want from a high-yield stock.
  • Enbridge Energy Partners LP (NYSE: EEP) will be absorbed by its sponsor and the 12.3% yield will be slashed.
  • Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) had 120% coverage but is also in danger of being rolled up by its sponsor, reducing the dividend income to SUN investors.
  • Alliance Resource Partners, LP (Nasdaq: ARLP) has great dividend coverage, but the baggage of being a coal producing MLP.
  • Energy Transfer Partners, LP (NYSE: ETP) will experience an effective dividend yield reduction of 20% when the merger with its sponsor goes through.
  • SemGroup Corporation (NYSE: SEMG) provided solid 140% dividend coverage. This is a solid, high-yield income stock.

You can see this is not a list of 10 stocks to make up 50% of a high-yield portfolio. Eight of them are at risk or in the process if dividend cuts. The 10% yield of the MLPY ETN is a value trap and to be avoided.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

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Multiply Your Monthly Income with the World’s First Online Dividend Forecaster

Are you secure in retirement or will you be when you reach that age? Odds are that if you are a middle class wage earner, the answer is a scary NO. A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. On the subject of these people entering retirement the article said this:

“Most of the rest are unprepared. Fifty-four percent of households with middle incomes—ranging from around $48,000 to $95,000 a year—don’t have enough saved to maintain their quality of living in retirement, according to the Boston College Center for Retirement Research.”

A 54% chance of a financially challenged retirement just stinks! Once you leave the job with a paycheck, you must plan your finances to make what you have accumulated up until that time last the rest of your life.

It is truly a daunting task to manage your savings to both provide enough money to pay for your lifestyle in retirement and to make sure your money will last the rest of your life, which could be 35 or 40 years or longer.

There is no scarier scenario than the possibility of running out of money late into your retirement years. Just at the time when your expenses may be increasing to pay for the life changes that getting older my force upon us.

You may be surprised at the poor choices the planning options the financial services industry offers to retirees who have saved enough or close to enough, but need to that money to produce a strong rate of return that can be withdrawn to provide a retirement income.

If you have a big enough nest egg so that a 3% to 4% withdrawal rate will provide the income you want, the financial services industry can help you out. Keep in mind that level of withdrawal means a $30,000 to $40,000 retirement income from $1 million in savings. I don’t know about you, but to me $30k a year doesn’t feel like being a millionaire! Even with this low of a withdrawal rate a back testing of the traditional portfolio balanced between stocks and bonds has a 20% chance of running out of money in 30 years. That too is a scary statistic.

When I give investor conference presentations, I talk to investors about using a portfolio of higher yield stocks as the core of an investment portfolio. By higher I mean cash returns ranging from 5% into the teens.

Consider this scenario. If you have a portfolio with an average yield of 8%, you can withdraw 6% per year and never have to sell a share. You will even have cash earnings left over to reinvest and grow your future income potential.

In contrast to that approach, the 4% rule espoused by the financial services industry assumes you will sell of stocks and bonds, since such a portfolio will not produce enough dividend and interest income to cover the withdrawals. Selling shares to pay for retirement in the middle of a stock market crash will put an unrecoverable dent in your retirement savings. Back to the high yield dividend idea If you earn enough income from your stocks to never have to sell shares, your retirement security is immune to the swings of the stock market. Let that sink in. A retirement investment plan that takes out worrying about what the stock market is doing.

There are challenges to implementing a high-yield stock investment plan. These types of stocks require a different set of analysis tools. You can’t just do a stock screen for yield and buy the ones at the top of the list. You can’t build a high yield portfolio using ETFs. Financial advisors love recommending ETFs. They don’t have the time to analyze individual stocks. You as an individual investor need to have the tools or the help to pick out the safe high yield stocks from the dangerous ones.

Finally, you might be surprised to learn that most brokerage accounts do not track and do not include dividend income in the return calculations shown in a brokerage account. The high yield stock investor needs other tools to track how much income a portfolio is generating to accurately determine how much can be withdrawn to cover a retirement lifestyle.

One tool that I, along with thousands of my readers, use is the Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar.

With the calendar you can forecast with a great degree of accuracy exactly how much your stocks will bring in month.

It tells you when you’ll get paid and helps you figure out how much each and every month based on a portfolio of only about 20 stocks. That way you won’t have to worry about how you’ll cover the bills and can better budget during retirement and stop worrying about money.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Source: Investors Alley 

Buy These 3 High-Yield Stocks Raising Dividends in October

I always look forward to the start of a new calendar quarter. Within a few weeks stocks with policies of quarterly dividend increases will start to declare the next dividend rates. It is an interesting market effect that the investing public doesn’t take into account that some companies grow dividends every quarter. The market acts surprised every time it happens. Investors can get ahead of the share price gains by getting in before the dividend announcements.

The best places to find stocks with quarterly dividend increases and current great yields are energy infrastructure stocks and the renewable energy providers. These companies have long term contracts often with built in rate escalators, providing steady income streams. They generate growth by developing or acquiring new assets, each with its own long term service contract. These assets range from interstate energy pipelines, to natural gas liquids processing facilities to wind or solar energy projects.

For the best long term investment results, you want companies that have histories of dividend growth and a solid plan to continue that growth. Look for a balance of current yield and the annual dividend growth prospects. Here are three stocks that fit these criteria.

Clearway Energy (NYSE: CWEN) is the former NRG Yield Inc. (NYSE: NYLD) with a new name and a new sponsor. The Yieldco owns a nationally diverse portfolio of conventional, solar, thermal, wind, and natural gas electricity production assets.

The company was spun out in 2012 by NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG), a regulated electric utility company. Renewable energy assets developed by NRG were sold to NYLD to support the growth of NYLD. Recently the controlling sponsor interest in NYLD was acquired by Global Infrastructure Partners. Along with control of NYLD, Global Infrastructure purchased NRG Renewables 6.4 GW project backlog. Management guidance is for 5% to 8% annual dividend growth.

The company’s history is to increase the dividend each quarter. The next dividend should be announced around November 1.

The shares currently yield 6.3%.

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE) provides natural gas transport and processing services in and from the major energy production basins. It owns and operates one of the nation’s premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems and is a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas.

ONEOK’s operations include a 38,000-mile integrated network of NGL and natural gas pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities in the Mid-Continent, Williston, Permian and Rocky Mountain regions. Since merging with its controlled MLP, ONEOK Partners in June 2016, the company has been increasing its dividend by about 3.5% each quarter.

The next dividend will be announced in the last week of October.

The shares currently yield 4.9%.

Magellan Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: MMP) is a pipeline focused MLP. The company is primarily a refined energy products (gasoline and other fuels) pipeline company. This sector generates 54% of net operating income. Crude oil pipelines bring in 38% of NOI and the balance of 8% is from marine energy product storage terminals.

Magellan Midstream is a large cap, investment grade, growth focused energy midstream company. It has increased the distribution paid to investors every year since 2001. Currently management forecasts future dividend growth of 5% to 8% per year.

The next distribution will be announced on about October 20.

MMP currently yields 5.6%.

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Source: Investors Alley