Cypress Semiconductor (CY) trades ex-dividend date on 12/29/15

Div/yield    0.11/4.44 On 11/9/15,

CY announced a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.11 per share, payable on 1/21/16 to shareholders, with an ex-dividend date of 12/29/15.

Gap (GPS) trades ex-dividend on 1/4/16

• Div/yield 0.23/3.58

On 11/13/15, GPS announced a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.23 per share, payable on 1/27/16 to shareholders, with an ex-dividend date of 1/4/16.

iShares MSCI Brazil (EWZ) : Distribution Paid: 12/28/15 - $0.23

• Div/yield 0.23/3.88

Annaly Capital Management (NLY) trades ex-dividend on December 29, 2015

• Div/yield 0.30/12.32

Annaly Capital Management Inc (NLY) will begin trading ex-dividend on December 29, 2015. A cash dividend payment of $0.3 per share is scheduled to be paid on January 29, 2016. Shareholders who purchased NLY prior to the ex-dividend date are eligible for the cash dividend payment. This marks the 9th quarter that NLY has paid the same dividend. At the current stock price of $9.75, the dividend yield is 12.31%.

NLY is a part of the Consumer Services sector, which includes companies such as Simon Property Group, Inc. (SPG) and Public Storage (PSA). NLY's current earnings per share, an indicator of a company's profitability, is -$.98. Zacks Investment Research reports NLY's forecasted earnings growth in 2015 as 7.79%, compared to an industry average of -3.9%.

Follow-up 6 weeks later:

Nordic American Tanker Shipping (NAT) confirms dividend policy unchanged

• Div/yield 0.38/10.61

Nordic American Tanker issues a financial and operational update; 4Q15 is progressing well : Co stated:
"We also wish to make it absolutely clear that NAT has no financial or operational relationships with MLPs. Our dividend policy remains in place. NAT has paid dividend for 73 consecutive quarters since the autumn of 1997. The financial position of NAT is solid. The net debt stood at $6.8 million per ship at the end of the third quarter 2015. The 4th quarter 2015 is progressing well. The tanker market is strong now, impacting the 4Q2015 results for NAT positively."

AT&T increases quarterly dividend $0.01/share to $0.48/share

AT&T increases quarterly dividend $0.01/share to $0.48/share

• Div/yield 0.48/5.59

PFE increases quarterly dividend to $0.30/share from $0.28/share

Golar LNG goes ex-dividend on December 8, 2015

• Golar LNG will be trading ex-dividend of a total dividend of $0.45 per share on December 8, 2015. The record date will be December 10, 2015 and the dividend will be paid on or about January 6, 2016.
• Div/yield 0.45/6.58

** charts after earnings on Oct 30, 2015 **

A week after going ex-dividend:

Nike (NKE) announces 14% increase in quarterly dividend and two-for-one stock split

 NIKE announces new $12 bln share repurchase program, 14% increase in quarterly dividend and two-for-one stock split.  Details below.

** charts before announcements **

 NIKE announces new $12 bln share repurchase program, 14% increase in quarterly dividend and two-for-one stock split  :

• Co approved a new four-year, $12 bln program to repurchase shares of NIKE's Class B Common Stock. The Company anticipates that the current $8 bln share repurchase program will be completed before the end of fiscal 2016, and the new program will commence upon the completion of the current program.
• Board of Directors also declared a quarterly cash dividend on the Company's outstanding Class A and Class B Common Stock of $0.32 per share, on a pre-split basis, payable on January 4, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 9, 2015. The dividend represents a 14 percent increase over the previous pre-split quarterly rate of $0.28 per share. This is the fourteenth year in a row the Company has increased its annual dividend, over which time the dividend has increased by a factor of more than 10.
• Also approved a two-for-one split of both NIKE's Class A and Class B Common shares. The split will be in the form of a 100% stock dividend payable on Dec 23, 2015 to shareholders of record at the close Dec 9, 2015.

HP declares regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.124/share

HP declares regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.124/share following separation of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) (HPQ)

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) increases dividend to $0.70/share

Prudential increases quarterly dividend to $0.70/share from $0.58/share

VF Corp (VFC) increases quarterly dividend 16% to $0.37/share

Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.37/share, reflecting a 16% increase over the previous quarter's dividend.

23 Oct 2015:  V.F. Corp misses by $0.05, misses on revs; guides FY15 EPS below consensus due to F/X impacts, reaffirms FY15 rev guidance; increases quarterly dividend 16%  :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.07 per share, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.12; revenues rose 2.6% year/year to $3.61 bln vs the $3.68 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Gross margin was 48.9% on a currency neutral basis, representing a 60 basis point improvement over the same period last year.
• Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $3.18 (prior $3.22) vs. $3.24 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of +3% to 12.65 bln vs. $12.73 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• EPS guidance revision due to ~$0.04/share of greater than expected negative changes in foreign currency during the third quarter.

DineEquity (DIN) raises quarterly dividend 5% to $0.92

DineEquity raises quarterly dividend 5%, boosts common share repurchase authorization to $150 mln

Div/yield 0.92/4.06

Co announced approval by its Board of Directors of a 5% increase in the Co's quarterly cash dividend to $0.92 per share of common stock

The Board of Directors also approved an increase in the share repurchase authorization for the Co's common stock, effective immediately, to $150 million from the remaining previous authorization of ~$63 million.

The Co anticipates using the majority of its remaining free cash flow after dividend payments for share repurchases.

** update 7 weeks later : $DIN dropped almost another $10

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) announced a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.65 per share

On 9/24/15, LMT announced a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.65 per share, payable on 12/24/15 to shareholders, with an ex-dividend date of 11/27/15.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) announces quarterly distribution of $1.0334

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) announces quarterly distribution of $1.0334.

• 30-Day Sec yield of 2.03% (as of 9/16/2015).
• Payable Oct. 30; for shareholders of record Sept. 22; 
• ex-div Sept. 18.
• Div/yield 1.03/2.06

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) announced a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.51 per share

ABBV: On 9/11/15, ABBV announced a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.51 per share, payable on 11/16/15 to shareholders, with an ex-dividend date of 10/13/15.

• Div/yield 0.51/ 3.34

 

Transocean (RIG) seeks to cancel two dividend payments

• Transocean to propose cancellation of third and fourth installments of dividend; Co was previously paying a $0.15/quarter dividend 
• Div/yield 0.15/4.91

Transocean Ltd. is seeking to cancel the third and fourth installments of its dollar-denominated dividend this year, which the company had already approved in May.

Shares dropped 12% to $10.75 in after-hours trading. Through Tuesday's close, they had fallen 67% in the past 12 months.

The offshore driller said in February that it planned four installments of 15 cents each, which represented an 80% reduction from the previous payout rate, citing its "cyclical and capital-intensive industry."

Transocean said Tuesday that it will seek shareholder approval of the cancellation at an Oct. 29 meeting.

Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund (NYSE:GER)

• dividend yield of 11.94%

Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Renassnc Fd (NYSE:GER) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 4th, Marketbeat.com reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.335 per share by the investment management company on Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th.

5 weeks later

Monsanto (MON) increases quarterly dividend to $0.54/share

• Monsanto increases quarterly dividend to $0.54/share from $0.49/share
• Previously Div/yield 0.49/1.91

American International Group (AIG) increases quarterly dividend to $0.28/share

• American Intl announces its Board authorizes the additional repurchase of up to $5 bln in common stock; increases quarterly dividend to $0.28/share from $0.125/share
• Div/yield 0.12/0.78

Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) increases its quarterly dividend to $0.47/share

Scotts Miracle-Gro increases its quarterly dividend by 4%, to $0.47/share from $0.45/share

Kennametal (KMT) increases quarterly dividend 11% to $0.20/share

• Current Div/yield 0.18/2.17
• Increased to $0.20/share

Kennametal beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides FY16 EPS below consensus; Increases quarterly dividend 11% to $0.20/share (KMT) : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.46 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.45; revenues fell 17.4% year/year to $637.7 mln vs the $627.31 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.70-2.00 vs. $2.11 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, which includes foreign currency headwinds of approximately $0.30 to $0.35 due to the continued strength of the U.S. dollar.

For fiscal year 2016, the company's outlook reflects ongoing market uncertainties as well as limited visibility related to customer demand trends. Kennametal's current assumptions include expectations of some growth in the Industrial segment, although not sufficient to offset weakness in the Infrastructure segment.

In addition, orders activity levels remained weak during the June quarter, and the company expects year-over-year comparisons to be unfavorable through December 2015.

Ocean RIG UDW (ORIG) suspends its quarterly dividend

Ocean RIG UDW decided to suspend the quarterly dividend until the offshore drilling market conditions improve.

• Current Div/yield 0.19/19.10