For Fund Managers, Dividend Paradise

Investors can expect a flurry of new and improved dividend payouts in coming weeks, and utilities, for a change, might not be the main beneficiaries, fund managers said at the Morningstar Investment Conference last week in Chicago.

"There's already been a lot of activity," said Brian Rogers, a vice president at T. Rowe Price and manager of the (PRFDX Quote)Equity Income fund. "And companies have suggested to us that there's more to come as the year unfolds. I think we'll see a fairly aggressive increase in the amount of dividends paid, and also a lot of new initiations."

The panelists pointed to a slew of examples to back their enthusiasm. Microsoft (MSFT Quote) and Qualcomm (QCOM Quote) recently initiated dividend programs, paying 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively. (A report Monday morning said Microsoft is weighing a $10 billion one-time payout.) Also, just last week Mandalay Resort (MBG Quote) announced it would begin paying dividends at 2.9%, while Goldman Sachs(GS Quote) doubled its dividend (which had been unchanged since initiation in 2000) to 1.2% and Bank of America (BAC Quote), which has steadily increased its dividend payments over the past five years, also increased it by 25% to 4%. ...