The Top Dividend Stocks of the Week

Here are some of the latest stocks to raise their dividends.
By James Altucher ,

Updated from 7:01 a.m. EDT

While companies like

Aircastle

(AYR) - Get Report

and British firms Uniq PLC and Kingfisher PLC have chopped their dividends -- in the case of Aircastle by more than 60% -- it is encouraging to see that there are some companies that continue to increase their payout rates to shareholders.

Stockpickr has reviewed the companies that recently raised their dividend payments and compiled a list of the

Top Dividend-Increasers for the Week

.

One featured stock, defense and aerospace contractor

Raytheon

(RTN) - Get Report

, increased its annual dividend by 10% to $1.12, including a quarterly dividend of 28 cents a share. The company just announced that it was awarded a $60.2 million Army contract to supply battlefield surveillance systems to the Marines. The stock has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 14.6, a P/E-to-growth ratio of 1.1 and offers a yield of 1.7%.

Raytheon stock appears in the portfolio

Blackrock Equity Dividend Fund

, a five-star Morningstar-rated fund managed by Robert Shearer. It also holds

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

, which yields 1.6%,

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

, which currently yields 6.6%, and

Exelon

(EXC) - Get Report

, which yields 2.5%.

Pepsi Bottling Group

( PBG) is another company that boosted its dividend, increasing its quarterly payment by 21% to 17 cents a share.

This company, which is benefiting from the success of

PepsiCo

(PEP) - Get Report

, just announced a major stock-buyback plan and will repurchase up to $25 million shares. The stock has a forward P/E of 13, a PEG of 1.5 and a yield of 2%.

Pepsi Bottling shares are owned by the

Columbia Mid-Cap Value Fund

, which is rated four stars and is managed by Lori Ensinger. The fund also owns shares of

Air Products and Chemicals

(APD) - Get Report

, which yields 1.9%,

PG&E

(PCG) - Get Report

, which yields 4.2%, and

PPL

(PPL) - Get Report

, which yields 2.9%.

American Greetings

(AM) - Get Report

, the greeting card company, just increased its quarterly dividend by 20% to 12 cents a share. The stock, which is trading close to its 52-week low, has a forward P/E of 11, a PEG of 1.2 and a yield of 2.2%.

Michael Price

is an American Greetings shareholder. Price, one of the top value investors with $1.6 billion under management, also owns shares of

Trane

( TT), which yields 1.4%,

American International Group

(AIG) - Get Report

, which yields 1.8%, and

ConocoPhillips

(COP) - Get Report

, which carries a 2.5% yield.

To see more newly higher-yielding plays, check out the

Top Dividend-Increasers for the Week

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.

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