Top 100 Dividend Stocks to Invest in 2012

In the light of the big news about the death of Osama Bin Laden, it should be an interesting on the world markets.  That being said, no matter what happens, I think it’s fair to say that you should not let your future financial independence depend on world events such as this one. That is one reason why this monthly post is always so popular as it represents a good first step to build and improve your passive income portfolio in what could be the difference between an early & enjoyable retirement and a very late retirement where you depend on your former employer or the government to determine the level of your life. So today we resume our monthly tradition of looking at the top 100 dividend stocks in the broad based S&P500 index.
What to look for
Over the past few months, we have looked at quite a few criteria that have helped us find the best dividend stocks including current yield, dividend growth and also companies that produce solid enough earnings to keep up the dividend payments. We summed it all up when we discussed the 20 things that we look for in dividend stocks.
FTR remains once more at the top of our list although it continues to pay out much more than what it makes making its 9% dividend yield unsustainable for now.  We did review FTR in the mailing list a few months and did determine it was not a great dividend stock. Both the #2 and #3 positions are also telephone/telecom stocks. Once again, later this week, we will be focused on growth stocks as those seem to be the key to a long term dividend portfolio.
Hopefully this will help you when building your passive dividend porrtfolio.

We will be filtering out the top 100 list to find the ones that fit all of these criteria! In the meantime, here is the list!

Ticker	Name	Price	Dividend Yield	Payout Ratio	Ex-Date

FTR Frontier Communications Corp 8.27 9.07 346.75 6/7/2012 WIN Windstream Corp 12.81 7.81 150.63 6/28/2012 CTL CenturyLink Inc 40.78 7.11 92.65 6/6/2012 PBI Pitney Bowes Inc 24.56 6.03 97.09 5/11/2012 RAI Reynolds American Inc 37.11 5.71 81.34 6/8/2012 MO Altria Group Inc 26.84 5.66 77.98 6/13/2012 POM Pepco Holdings Inc 19.27 5.6 173.38 6/8/2012 T AT&T Inc 31.12 5.53 52.32 7/8/2012 RRD RR Donnelley & Sons Co 18.86 5.51 96.71 8/2/2012 FE FirstEnergy Corp 39.96 5.5 85.46 5/4/2012 HCN Health Care REIT Inc 53.77 5.32 554.64 5/6/2012 LLY Eli Lilly & Co 37.01 5.29 42.75 5/11/2012 DUK Duke Energy Corp 18.65 5.25 97.07 5/18/2012 AEE Ameren Corp 29.31 5.25 264.75 6/6/2012 PGN Progress Energy Inc 47.45 5.23 83.83 7/8/2012 TEG Integrys Energy Group Inc 52.36 5.2 94.56 5/25/2012 VZ Verizon Communications Inc 37.78 5.16 213.72 7/6/2012 PPL PPL Corp 27.43 5.1 63.35 6/8/2012 CINF Cincinnati Financial Corp 31.68 5.05 68.7 6/20/2012 AEP American Electric Power Co Inc 36.48 5.04 68.04 5/6/2012 EXC Exelon Corp 42.15 4.98 54.31 5/11/2012 LO Lorillard Inc 106.5 4.88 62.68 5/26/2012 HCP HCP Inc 39.62 4.85 198.62 5/5/2012 PNW Pinnacle West Capital Corp 43.39 4.84 67.88 7/29/2012 SO Southern Co 39.04 4.84 75.75 8/4/2012 ETR Entergy Corp 69.72 4.76 48.31 5/10/2012 NI NiSource Inc 19.45 4.73 86.8 7/27/2012 BMY Bristol-Myers Squibb Co 28.1 4.7 71.24 6/29/2012 SCG SCANA Corp 41.52 4.67 63.56 6/8/2012 ED Consolidated Edison Inc 52.12 4.61 68.15 5/16/2012 PBCT People’s United Financial Inc 13.69 4.6 254.49 7/29/2012 DTE DTE Energy Co 50.53 4.43 58.25 6/16/2012 TE TECO Energy Inc 19.27 4.26 73.1 5/11/2012 PEG Public Service Enterprise Group Inc 32.17 4.26 44.51 6/7/2012 CNP CenterPoint Energy Inc 18.6 4.25 72.35 5/12/2012 D Dominion Resources Inc/VA 46.42 4.24 36.37 5/25/2012 CMS CMS Energy Corp 19.8 4.24 43.38 5/4/2012 KMB Kimberly-Clark Corp 66.06 4.24 58.87 6/8/2012 MRK Merck & Co Inc 35.95 4.23 549.36 6/15/2012 XEL Xcel Energy Inc 24.33 4.15 61.8 6/21/2012 VTR Ventas Inc 55.93 4.11 153.91 6/8/2012 LEG Leggett & Platt Inc 26.29 4.1 87.94 6/13/2012 PCG PG&E Corp 46.08 3.95 60.24 6/28/2012 PCL Plum Creek Timber Co Inc 43.09 3.9 134.65 5/11/2012 NEE NextEra Energy Inc 56.57 3.89 41.93 6/1/2012 PFE Pfizer Inc 20.96 3.82 72.18 5/11/2012 PAYX Paychex Inc 32.71 3.79 93.94 7/28/2012 LMT Lockheed Martin Corp 79.25 3.79 36.64 5/27/2012 CAG ConAgra Foods Inc 24.45 3.76 46.82 7/27/2012 FII Federated Investors Inc 25.78 3.73 127.68 5/4/2012 PM Philip Morris International Inc 69.44 3.69 61.77 6/21/2012 KIM Kimco Realty Corp 19.54 3.69 361.29 6/29/2012 ABT Abbott Laboratories 52.04 3.69 59.05 7/15/2012 SYY Sysco Corp 28.91 3.6 49.64 6/29/2012 SE Spectra Energy Corp 29.04 3.58 62.32 5/11/2012 RTN Raytheon Co 48.55 3.54 30.6 7/6/2012 HNZ HJ Heinz Co 51.23 3.51 58.04 6/21/2012 SRE Sempra Energy 55.1 3.49 51.56 6/14/2012 HRB H&R Block Inc 17.29 3.47 41.09 6/7/2012 JNJ Johnson & Johnson 65.72 3.47 43.54 5/26/2012 WM Waste Management Inc 39.46 3.45 63.38 5/26/2012 KFT Kraft Foods Inc 33.58 3.45 81.98 6/27/2012 CPB Campbell Soup Co 33.59 3.45 44.08 6/30/2012 MAT Mattel Inc 26.72 3.44 42.53 5/23/2012 IP International Paper Co 30.88 3.4 27.48 5/13/2012 MCHP Microchip Technology Inc 41.04 3.36 115 5/17/2012 GAS Nicor Inc 55.43 3.36 61.42 6/28/2012 HCBK Hudson City Bancorp Inc 9.53 3.36 55.05 5/3/2012 COP ConocoPhillips 78.93 3.35 27.95 5/19/2012 GPC Genuine Parts Co 53.7 3.35 54.45 6/8/2012 WEC Wisconsin Energy Corp 31.21 3.33 41.15 5/11/2012 EIX Edison International 39.27 3.26 32.91 6/28/2012 PG Procter & Gamble Co/The 64.9 3.24 48.84 7/20/2012 MTB M&T Bank Corp 88.37 3.17 48.21 5/26/2012 CLX Clorox Co 69.66 3.16 48.09 7/26/2012 NOC Northrop Grumman Corp 63.61 3.14 26.74 5/26/2012 AVP Avon Products Inc 29.38 3.13 63.71 5/18/2012 INTC Intel Corp 23.19 3.13 30.56 5/4/2012 MCD McDonald’s Corp 78.31 3.12 48.68 5/26/2012 SVU SUPERVALU Inc 11.26 3.11 N/A 5/27/2012 NUE Nucor Corp 46.96 3.09 339.9 6/28/2012 NU Northeast Utilities 35.6 3.09 46.84 5/27/2012 BMS Bemis Co Inc 31.34 3.06 50.66 5/18/2012 K Kellogg Co 57.27 3 46.83 5/27/2012 NYX NYSE Euronext 40.05 3 43.85 6/14/2012 OKE Oneok Inc 69.94 2.98 57.84 7/27/2012 MWV MeadWestvaco Corp 33.69 2.97 61.83 7/28/2012 GE General Electric Co 20.45 2.93 42.29 6/16/2012 GIS General Mills Inc 38.58 2.9 42.06 7/7/2012 DD EI du Pont de Nemours & Co 56.79 2.89 49.75 5/11/2012 VNO Vornado Realty Trust 96.68 2.86 77.37 5/5/2012 CVX Chevron Corp 109.44 2.85 29.81 5/17/2012 AVB AvalonBay Communities Inc 126.61 2.82 304.59 6/28/2012 BLK BlackRock Inc 195.94 2.81 37.62 6/3/2012 SPG Simon Property Group Inc 114.54 2.8 123.98 5/13/2012 PEP PepsiCo Inc/NC 68.89 2.79 47.92 6/1/2012 KO Coca-Cola Co/The 67.46 2.79 34.4 6/13/2012 MMC Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc 30.28 2.78 79.67 7/6/2012 UPS United Parcel Service Inc 74.97 2.77 54.73 5/19/2012 PLD ProLogis 16.29 2.76 N/A 5/11/2012

Time To Buy Starbucks Stocks in 2012

Time To Buy Starbucks Stocks in 2012 Starbucks K-cups are helping drive results

Strong early acceptance of Starbucks K-cups will lead to a strong fiscal first quarter performance for the coffee retailer and roaster, according to UBS.? They consider the stock a buy and raised their price target to $52, from $47 previously.
Starbucks has been a solid performer over the last couple of quarters, beating estimates on strong growth across its different business units. The trend will continue in the first quarter, according to UBS, with U.S. same store sales expected to grow 9%.
Among the best performing units, though, has been the fast growing consumer products group.? CPG, as the unit is called, recently released Starbucks brand K-cups, which are single-serve coffee capsules for Green Mountain Coffee?s Keurig brewers.
Strong early acceptance of Time To Buy Starbucks Stocks in 2012 Starbucks K-cups leads UBS? analysts to note ?the future of the high margin CPG division appears bright;? the product has already grabbed about 12% market share in the K-cup space. ?CPG had grown 20% year-over-year last quarter and is set for another strong run, with analysts forecasting 40% growth in fiscal Q1. Along with K-cups, Starbucks? bagged coffee and blonde roast will further drive the unit, which could add more than 10 cents to fiscal 2012 EPS.
The analysts expect 2012 revenues to grow 13% to $13.2 billion.? They have raised their fiscal 2012 and 2013 estimates to $1.89 and $2.40, which constitute 24% and 27% year-over-year growth respectively.
Starbucks remains a top performer in its sector, its stock up 47% over the last twelve months.? That?s better than competitors Dunkin? Brands (down 6% since it went public in late July) and fast food chains McDonald?s and Yum Brands (up 36% and 24% respectively).
On Thursday, shares in Starbucks traded in positive territory, closing the ! day up 1 % or 48 cents to $47.60 in New York.