Top Dividend Stocks of the Week

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

Updated from 7:07 a.m. EDT

One way to find favorable investment opportunities is to look at stocks that have just increased their dividend payouts. A newly raised dividend is a sign that a company's executives and board of directors believe very strongly about the future revenue and earnings of the business.

With that in mind, Stockpickr has compiled a list of the

Top Dividend-Raisers for the Week Ending April 26

, providing you with a selection of stocks worth further homework.

One of last week's largest dividend increases came from

Arch Coal

(ACI) - Get Report

, which bumped up its quarterly dividend by 28.6% to 9 cents. This producer of steam and metallurgical coal just named a new chief financial officer, John Drexler. It also just named a new chief accounting officer and new corporate controller. The stock, which earlier last week traded to a new 52-week high, has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13, a P/E-to-growth ratio of 1.2 and a yield of 0.5%.

Arch Coal is a stock owned by

Clarium Capital Management

, a global macro hedge fund with more than $1 billion under management and founded by Peter Thiel. Clarium also holds shares of

Monsanto

(MON)

, which yields 0.6%,

HJ Heinz

(HNZ)

, with a yield of 3.2%, and

Family Dollar Stores

(FDO)

, with a 2.4% yield.

Carpenter Technology

(CRS) - Get Report

is another company that raised its dividend last week, increasing its quarterly payout by 20% to 18 cents a share. Shares of this manufacturer of specialty metals and engineered products traded to a new 52-week low a couple of weeks ago due to lowered earnings guidance for its third quarter. The stock has a forward P/E of 9 and a yield of 1.4%.

Carpenter shows up in the portfolio of the

Royce Opportunity Fund

, which is rated four stars by Morningstar. Royce also holds

Regal Entertainment Group

(RGC)

, which yields 6.2%,

Cinemark

(CNK) - Get Report

, yielding 5%, and

McClatchy

(MNI) - Get Report

, yielding 7.6%.

Another increased dividend last week came from

Frontier Oil

(FTO)

, a petroleum refiner that increased its quarterly dividend by a penny to 6 cents a share. The company has scheduled to report its latest quarterly results May 7. It has a forward P/E of 6, a PEG of 0.3 and a yield of 0.9%.

Frontier is part of the

Permanent Portfolio Fund

, a five-star Morningstar-rated fund managed by Michael Cuggino. It also owns shares of

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold

(FCX) - Get Report

, which has a 1.6% yield,

BHP Billiton

(BHP) - Get Report

, with a 1.4% yield, and

Chevron

(CVX) - Get Report

, with a 2.5% yield.

For more newly raised dividend plays, check out the

Top Dividend-Raisers for the Week Ending April 26

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.

Loading ...