Today we’ll discuss a 5.4% dividend that actually annualizes to 7%. A 5.7% payer that really dishes 12.4%. And even a headline 15% yield that is understated because the company handed out 16.1% last year. Wait. What? These “typos” fool the mainstream financial websites. We are discussing special dividends today. Payouts that are awarded as a bonus to regular quarterly dividends. Only a select few firms dish specials. Sometimes, it’s thanks to a sudden influx of money. Let’s take billboard and transit display giant Outfront Media (OUT) which sold its Canadian business for C$410 million in cash in June. Fast…

Star Bulk Carriers has been named as a Top 10 dividend stock, according the most recent Dividend Channel ”DividendRank” report. The report noted that among the coverage universe, SBLK shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. For example, the recent SBLK share price of $17.32 represents a price-to-book ratio of 0.8 and an annual dividend yield of 13.86% — by comparison, the average company in Dividend Channel’s coverage universe yields 4.1% and trades at a price-to-book ratio of 2.8. The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at Star Bulk Carriers , and favorable long-term multi-year…

Chief executives probably know their companies better than anyone else. So when the boss is buying his own company’s stock, it’s wise to pay attention. Here are four stocks I think deserve a look. In each case, the chief executive officer (CEO) has made a significant purchase in the past few weeks. Two are large-capitalization companies, one a mid-cap, and one a small-cap. Centene Centene Corp. (CNC) is the largest in the bunch, with a market value of $30 billion. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Centene is a managed care company that focuses heavily on Medicaid patients. Medicaid is a…

Stellantis shares dropped just over 8% in Europe after news storied CEO Carlos Tavares had stepped down just over a year before his contract expired. Stellantis shares have lost almost 60% of their value since March, when falling sales in the U.S. and burgeoning stocks shook its financial position. This led to a profit warning in September which included a forecast of a cash burn of up to €10 billion ($10.5 billion) in 2024. Stellantis cautioned shareholders that the profit margin in 2024 would be closer to 5.5 to 7.0%, not 10%. German automakers also issued profit warningsat the same…

A global rush for bauxite, the ore of aluminum, is underway led by Chinese and U.S. companies. In the South American country of Suriname, Chinalco, a state-owned Chinese miner and metal producer, has staked a claim to neglected bauxite deposits in the west of the country. In Australia Alcoa, a big U.S. aluminum producer, is planning to restart bauxite mining in an area abandoned 10 years ago. Driving the revival is a squeeze on the supply of bauxite and alumina, the intermediate product used to make aluminum. Cutbacks in bauxite mining in the African country of Guinea, the world’s biggest…

We are drowning in post-election stock-market predictions, so let me go ahead and throw another one on the pile: This new administration will hurt the returns of folks who simply buy an index fund like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY Principal Shareholder Yield Index ETF SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust ) and call it a day. I call SPY “America’s ticker” because, well, most Americans own it. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you do, too. Now, I’m not going to judge (well, maybe I will, but just a little bit!). Suffice it to say, the…

Hedge fund veteran and Wall Street-approved suit Scott Bessent is likely the new Treasury secretary. That’s why this 11% dividend is a big winner. Bessent will advocate for financial deregulation and increased lending. Easier and faster money. Which will be a boon for private equity and business development companies (BDCs). Prior to Bessent’s appointment, the folks in Silicon Valley were already salivating over increased M&A: Big companies tossing money at startups and private firms raising piles of dough to get in on the action itself. That’s the rocket fuel that mints multi-millionaires and even billionaires. This extra cash sloshing around…

The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has long held a lock on investors’ imaginations. So when it jumps to near 30, like it has in the last few weeks, they’re inclined to think stocks are pricey and pull back. Now is not the time to do that. Instead, we’re going to do what we always do at times like these: Look to a closed-end fund (CEF) that keeps us invested in stocks but gives us a hedge against a potential pullback. Three hedges, actually: The sale of covered call options, which generate extra cash for the fund, supporting the dividend it pays…

Investors holding the S&P 500 are on track to earn returns exceeding 25% for the second consecutive year. Driven by large-cap growth stocks, broad U.S. market-cap indexes have once again proven their value in stock portfolios. The S&P 500 continues to deliver impressive performance, but after consecutive years of outperformance, concerns are mounting about its ability to sustain this positive momentum. The S&P 500 year-to-date total return is 28%, powered by projected earnings growth of approximately 10%. This strong performance has pushed price-to-earnings ratios to their highest levels in two decades. Investors mindful of the SEC’s standard warning that “past…

For many years inflation seemed like the White Walker of economic worries. Elder economists muttered darkly of ancient times when the CPI rose by double digits, yet many a year had passed with no inflation sightings. Then 2021 happened. Suddenly, a new generation of economists witnessed firsthand just how central price stability is to American politics. Carola Binder was one of those young economists watching carefully. She was particularly struck by a Washington Post article in 2022 that asked experts what they thought the White House should do about rising prices. This seemed odd to her because dealing with inflation…