Delightful Dividends

By Dian Vujovich

I’ve always thought investing in dividend-paying companies was a no-brainer. Similar to getting a bonus each year from your employer, companies don’t have to pay them, you know. So having a few dividend-paying stocks in your portfolio, from solid companies with a well-established history of paying them, makes good sense. Plus, reinvest those puppies and it’s an easy way to increase you holdings in a company. Decide not to do that and you’ll receive quarterly income. Oh, and don’t forget about the possibility that these stocks could out-perform the market.

What’s not to like, here? No much from my perspective.

That said, due to market conditions over the past couple of years, some companies have cut their dividends or eliminated them altogether. But for the high-quality blue-chip dividend stock investor attractive choices are out there.

As always, however, investors need to do their research before investing.

To help you on that score, a recent story at Barrons.com highlighted their top 10 dividend-paying stock picks. Included on that list were:

•Banco Santander (ticker: STD). A Madrid-based big bank that’s expected to be one of the world’s most profitable banks this year has a dividend yield on its ADRs of 4.2 percent when the Barron’s story was published on December 2.

• Chevron (CVX). Like oil and gas? Chevron’s yield is around 3.5 percent.

• Intel (INTC). In that 3.3 percent yield range this maker of microprocessors, semiconductor chips and a host of other computer innards has been trading lately under $20 a share.

•Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). According to Barron’s, this company has the best record of any major company and has steadily grown its revenue, net income and dividends throughout the years. Trading in the low $60s, the stock’s yield is 3.1 percent.

•McDonald’s (MCD). Love those Golden Arches and you’ll probably love their dividend yield— it’s about 3.5 percent.

•Nestlé (NSRGY). With a balance sheet that’s concerned to be one of the strongest in it’s industry, the stock yields about 2.6 percent.

•Novartis (NVS). ADRs on this Swiss-based company that makes the H1NI swine flu vaccine, have a dividend yield of 3.2 percent.

• PepsiCo (PEP). Barron’s likes PepsiCo over Coca-Cola because of its sales growth strength. Look for a 2.9 percent yield on its stock.

•Procter & Gamble (PG). How many of its products are in your cupboard? The stock’s dividend yield is about 2.8 percent.

•Verizon Communications (VZ). With a hearty yield of 6.2 percent, Verizon is the largest wireless-service provider in the country.

Much much more about each company along with some great reasons for investing in dividend-paying companies can be found by reading the Barrons.com entire story at http://tinyurl.com/ylryenb . Please do so. It will be worth your time.