Top Dividend Stocks of the Week

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

Updated from 7:00 a.m. EDT

Last week was a positive one for the stock market, the

Dow Jones Industrial Averages

finished up 1.3%, the

Nasdaq

ended 2.2% higher, the

S&P

added 1.3%, and many companies raised their dividends.

Stockpickr has reviewed the companies that declared dividends last week and compiled a list of the

Top Dividend Increasers for the Week

.

One of last week's didvidend increases came from

Occidental Petroleum

(OXY) - Get Report

, which declared a 32-cent quarterly dividend. This payment works out to an annual dividend of $1.28, a 28% boost from its previous $1 payout rate.

This multinational oil and gas company recently reported a

solid first-quarter earnings beat

. The stock has a price-to-earnings ratio of 12, a P/E-to-growth ratio of 0.9 and a 1.2% yield.

Occidental stock is owned by the

Al Frank Asset Management Fund

, a deep value mutual fund with $280 million under management. The fund also owns shares of

UnitedHealth Group

, which has a 0.1% yield,

Archer Daniels Midland

(ADM) - Get Report

, which has a 1.2% yield, and

CSX

(CSX) - Get Report

, which sprots a 1.1% yield.

Another dividend increase last week came from

Marriott International

(MAR) - Get Report

, which upped its quarterly payout by 17% to 8.75 cents a share. The company last month posted a decline in first-quarter earnings that nonetheless were

in-line with Wall Street targets

. The stock has a P/E of 22, a PEG of 1.4 and a yield of 0.8%.

Caxton Associates

is a hedge fund invested in Marriott shares. This $20 billion fund, managed by Bruce Kovner, also owns shares of

Trane

(TT)

, which yields 1.4%,

Loews

(LTR)

, with a 0.6% yield, and

Tesoro

(TSO)

, with a 1.5% yield.

Property and casualty insurance company

RLI

(RLI) - Get Report

increased its quarterly dividend by 9% to 25 cents a share. The company last month reported first-quarter earnings results that fell shy of Wall Street expectations by 3 cents a share. The stock has a P/E of 7, a PEG of 1.1 and a yield of 1.8%.

RLI shows up in the Stockpickr portfolio called

Barron's Insider Purchases April 26, 2008

. Other stocks in this recent list include

Zumiez

(ZUMZ) - Get Report

and

AutoZone

(AZO) - Get Report

.

For more newly raised dividend plays, check out the

Top Dividend-Raisers for the Week Ending May 2

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 ...