7 Dividend Stocks Increasing Their Yields

Bob Evans Restaurants and Mimi's Cafes in the United States have consistently raised quarterly payouts since 2001. While the stock is down about -5% so far in 2010, it is comfortably profitable and even the lowest price estimates according to Thomson/First Call anticipate upside for shares from current levels.

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Alliance Financial

Small-cap stock Alliance Financial (ALNC) announced a quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share, an increase of about 7% over its previous 28 cent payout. The dividend is payable on Oct. 1 to ALNC stock shareholders of record Sept. 17.The increase gives Alliance a current yield of about 4.1%.

Alliance Financial Corporation provides financial services from 29 retail branches and customer service facilities in New York. While some regional banks have suffered lately, ALNC stock has tallied a +8% return year-to-date and has been consistently profitable with considerable earnings surprises for each of the last four fiscal quarters.

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Stage Stores

Stage Stores(SSI), a department store retailer that operates 750 stores in the U.S. under brands including Bealls, Goody's and Peebles, just made shareholders very happy with a whopping 50% dividend increase this week from 3.25 cents quarterly to 7.5 cents. That gives the stock a yield of about 2.6% at current valuations.

This was the first dividend increase since 2006 for Stage. The company returned to profitability in the first quarter of this year and while it hasn't fought back from the May market mayhem, it has a fairly bright outlook according to Wall Street analysts. If the median target of $16 according to Thomson/First Call proves true, SSI stock is looking at about a +35% upside.

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MGE Energy

MGE Energy(MGEE) is one of those un-sexy but reliable utility stocks that "engages in generating, purchasing, transmitting, and distributing electricity." Yawn.

However, the plump dividend and stable share price make this a good sleeper stock -- especially considering the company raised its quarterly dividend from $0.3684 to $0.3751 per share recently. Never mind the decimal places -- the bottom line is that this makes the 35th annual dividend increase, placing MGEE stock's dividend yield at more than 4% now. Add into the mix an increase of about +5% in shares year-to-date and you may find that MGE Energy makes a good low-risk investment for your portfolio.

As of this writing, Jeff Reeves did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.

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