MTB

There are several stocks, which offer tempting current high yields, which are less likely to be sustained. Most of the companies mentioned below are members of the elite S&P Dividend Aristocrats index for now.

Some of my fellow dividend investors have accused Warren Buffett of being a closet dividend investor. I won’t quite go that far, but there is significant common ground between dividend and value investors. With that said, let’s take a close look at Mr. Buffett’s most recent 13-F filing with the SEC.

As a dividend growth investor, my goal is to generate a rising stream of dividend income. Thus I would have to be selective not only about picking individual stocks, but also about selecting companies from a variety of industries, countries and size, in order to avoid a widespread implosion in overall dividend income.

One of my main objectives as a dividend growth investor is to seek investments which have a strong business model that throws out enough cash flow that could support consistent dividend increases.

S&P 500, which is the benchmark against which most money managers track their performance, lost 11.67% in the first quarter of 2009. The S&P Dividend Aristocrats however underperformed the benchmark by almost 2% after losing 13.84% in the first quarter. Now if we add dividends to the picture the S&P 500 loss drops to 11.01% while the loss for Dividend Aristocrats decreases to 12.90%.

When things are good your a Hero, when things go sour everyone turns their back and finds more dirt...

When I add a stock to my dividend portfolio, it is my intention to hold the stock forever. However, sometimes selling a stock is the right thing to do. I always sell after a dividend cut, but should I sell a dividend stock after a dividend freeze?

A look at the third quarter changes made by Warren Buffett in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio.

Out of 38 holdings in BRK-A’s portfolio 12 companies are dividend aristocrats, one is a dividend champion and three are dividend achievers. Only 5 of his holdings do not play any dividends at all.

Warren Buffett, the student of the now famous father or value investing Ben Graham, is the greatest stock investor of our times. He has built his flagship company, Berkshire Hathaway from a small mill to a diversified conglomerate with a total market cap of 175 billion dollars.

Most investors were scared from the severe drops in global stock markets last week, caused by the freezing of the debt markets and the global recession fears which the tightening of the credit markets might cause. Most stocks have suffered double digit percentage losses since the start of the year, even after yesterdays record rally. It’s no place to panic however.

The typical dividend aristocrat is a mature company with wide moat that has weathered the storms of many boom and bust cycles while continuing to increase dividend payments to shareholders. These companies as well as the dividend champions are the cornerstone to my dividend strategy.

M&T Bank Corporation operates as the holding company for M&T Bank and M&T Bank, National Association, which provides commercial and retail banking services. Linked here is a detailed stock analysis of MTB and commentary.

Ever since the broad market indexes entered into bear market territory, I have been checking the dividend champions list for bargains. I came up with a list, using the follwoing screen criteria:

Not so fast