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Top 10 High-Yield Dividend Stocks

James Altucher

The highest-yielding stock on Stockpickr's list of Top-Yielding Stocks With Raised Dividends is Reynolds American(RAI Quote), which yields 5.5% and just increased its quarterly dividend by 13% to 85 cents a share. This cigarette manufacturer has suffered during the last couple of months due to concerns about higher tobacco taxes and more regulations, in addition to second-quarter earnings falling below Wall Street expectations.

The drop in the price of the stock has obviously increased the stock's yield. However, the stock has more positives than just a high yield. It offers a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.7, which is below the industry average. The company has an operating margin of 26.3% and a return on equity of 16.2%.

Reynolds also makes the list of High-Yield Tobacco Stocks, a Stockpickr portfolio that lists the major tobacco companies that pay a dividend of more than 2%. Another company that shows up in this portfolio is Vector Group(VGR Quote), which pays a yield of 7.4%. Vector has a highly favorable P/E/growth, or PEG, ratio of 1.8, and its latest quarterly earnings showed a 131% year-over-year increase. The company is also a favorite of Jim Cramer and Carl Icahn, who owns 20% of the company.

Another stock included on the High-Yield Tobacco list is Altria Group(MO Quote), which generates a yield of 4.1%. Altria has a P/E ratio of 12.7 and a PEG of 2.1.

Bank of America(BAC Quote) is another high yielder that just increased its dividend, subprime and mortgage problems notwithstanding. The bank pays an attractive yield of 5.5%, recently increasing its quarterly payments by 14% to 64 cents. The stock has a low P/E ratio of 9.9 and a PEG of 1.3. Bank of America has an operating margin of 57.5%, higher than the industry average and the operating margins of its major competitors. Quarterly earnings were up 5.2% year over year.

Other bank stocks with high yields can be found on the list of Highest-Yielding Bank Stocks, which includes such banks as TrustCo Bank Corp. of New York(TRST Quote), which has a yield of 6.8%, a P/E of 17.1 and an operating margin of 64.4%. Another high-yielding bank on the list is F.N.B.(FNB Quote), which has a yield of 6.3%, a P/E of 13 and PEG of 2.3.

Kimco Realty(KIM Quote) is third on the list of high-yield stocks with recently raised dividends. The real estate investment trust, which develops and manages shopping centers, pays a yield of 4.3%, having recently increasing its dividend by 11.1%. Kimco has a P/E of 19.3 and a PEG of 1.8. It just reported a 38% increase in funds from operations, a common real estate performance metric that adds back depreciation and other noncash items to net income.

Kimco is also on Stockpickr's Dividend Growth portfolio, which lists stocks that raise their dividends on a regular basis. FPL Group(FPL Quote), yielding 2.9%, also makes this list. Another stock on the Dividend Growth list is Wachovia(WB Quote), which has a yield of 4.7%.

For the entire list of the 10 stocks with recent increases, check out the Top High-Yielding Stocks With Raised Dividends on Stockpickr.

Some of the other high-yield portfolios on Stockpickr.com include:

• High-Yield Growth Stocks
• More High-Yield Stocks You've Never Heard Of
• High-Yield Warren Buffett Stocks