The Top Dividend Stocks of the Week

02/20/08 - 11:47 AM EST

James Altucher

Updated from 6:53 a.m. EST

With the current turbulent market, it's great to see companies increasing their dividends, and some companies, such as Comcast (CMCSA Quote - Cramer on CMCSA - Stock Picks), reinstating them. Comcast, which hasn't paid a dividend since May 1999, will now pay out a quarterly dividend of 6.25 cents a share.

Stockpickr has examined the stocks that raised their dividends during the last week and compiled the Top Dividend-Raisers for the Week Ending Feb. 16.

One of the greatest dividend increases last week came from ITT (ITT Quote - Cramer on ITT - Stock Picks). The engineering products and services company increased its quarterly dividend by a healthy 25%, to 17.5 cents a share.

The company earlier this month reported that its fourth-quarter net income rose 12% and its revenue by 23% over the same period the a year ago. The stock has a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12, a P/E-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 1.1 and a yield of 1%.

ITT also appears in a Stockpickr portfolio called Clean Water, which lists stocks involved in the treatment and filtering of water. Other stocks in the portfolio include General Electric (GE Quote - Cramer on GE - Stock Picks), which has a yield of 3.6%, Ameron International (AMN Quote - Cramer on AMN - Stock Picks), with a yield of 1%, and Ashland (ASH Quote - Cramer on ASH - Stock Picks), which has a 2.4% yield.

Another dividend-raiser last week was Wolverine World Wide (WWW Quote - Cramer on WWW - Stock Picks). The manufacturer and seller of footwear and apparel bumped up its quarterly payment by 22% to 11 cents a share. A couple of weeks ago, the company posted a rise in fourth-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street estimates by a nickel a share. The stock has a P/E of 15, a PEG of 1 and a yield of 1.7%.

Wolverine stock is owned by the Yale University Endowment, which has $18 billion under management. Yale also owns shares of Douglas Emmett (DEI Quote - Cramer on DEI - Stock Picks), which yields 3.3%, Acadia Realty Trust (AKR Quote - Cramer on AKR - Stock Picks), which has a yield of 3.7%, and Crosstex Energy (XTXI Quote - Cramer on XTXI - Stock Picks), which yields 3.2%.

BlackRock (BLK Quote - Cramer on BLK - Stock Picks) also raised its dividend, increasing its quarterly payment by 16% to 78 cents a share. This investment management company reported a 90%-plus earnings increase in its latest quarterly report. The stock has a trailing P/E of 25, a PEG of 1.3, and a yield of 1.6%.

BlackRock also appears in the Top-Yielding High-Price Stocks, a Stockpickr portfolio that contains the highest yielding stocks that sell for over $100 a share. Other stocks in this portfolio include Deutsche Bank (DB Quote - Cramer on DB - Stock Picks), which yields 6.1%, Imperial Tobacco Group (ITY Quote - Cramer on ITY - Stock Picks), yielding 4.2%, and Entergy (ETR Quote - Cramer on ETR - Stock Picks), yielding 2.8%.

To see the entire list of 10 stocks, check out the Top Dividend-Raisers for the Week Ending Feb. 16 at Stockpickr.com.

At the time of publication, Altucher and/or his fund had no positions in stocks mentioned, although positions may change at any time.

James Altucher is president of Stockpickr LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of TheStreet.com and part of its network of Web properties, and a managing partner at Formula Capital, an alternative asset management firm that runs a fund of hedge funds. He is also a weekly columnist for the Financial Times and the author of Trade Like a Hedge Fund, Trade Like Warren Buffett and SuperCa$h. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Altucher appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.

TheStreet.com has a revenue-sharing relationship with Trader's Library under which it receives a portion of the revenue from purchases by customers directed there from TheStreet.com.

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