Dividend Stocks for the Week

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By Jonas Elmerraji

BALTIMORE (TheStreet) -- Now that earnings season is in full swing for Wall Street's biggest companies, dividend declarations are coming out in full force as well. And this past week has seen more dividend hikes than we've had in a very long time. All told, 22 companies announced increases in their payouts to shareholders last week. And with consumer concerns about the recovery still playing a big part in investment choices, higher dividends do a good job of quelling doubts that things are getting "less worse."

We're also seeing a continuing trend of more and more large-cap companies announcing higher dividends. Last week, some of the biggest blue chips on the Street announced that they were sharing more profits with shareholders.

Increasing dividends is a significant development that investors shouldn't overlook, whether they've focused on dividends in the past or not. Historically, companies that pay dividends materially outperform those that don't, and when the market turns bearish, dividends could be the only semblance of return that investors see for a while.

That's why every week Stockpickr reviews recent dividend declarations and compiles a portfolio of dividend-increasers. These stocks represent some of the most enticing investments on the market right now.

One of the dividend hikes on everyone's mind last week was from Visa(V Quote), the nearly ubiquitous electronic payment network. The company raised its dividend 19% to 12.5 cents for shareholders of record on Nov. 16. Visa now offers a 0.7% dividend.

Visa's dividend hike isn't out of order considering the company's stellar performance amid the global recession. Indeed, the credit crunch hasn't taken as large of a bite out of the company's business as many would have assumed. While the credit crunch has prompted many consumers to ditch credit cards for the most part, the space has been filled by debit -- and with an abundance of Visa-branded debit cards available, Visa has been able to pick up transactions that once went to companies such as American Express(AXP Quote) and Mastercard(MA Quote).