Last week belonged to the financial stocks and REITs, as stocks from these two sectors witnessed an upward movement throughout the list. The stock that stood out the most was JP Morgan as the bank surpassed analyst expectations despite taking a one-time $2.4 billion hit on account of the tax reforms. The stock went up two places on the list from the 79th to the 77th spot.
2017 belonged to financials when it came to dividend hikes. JP Morgan hiked its dividend by 12%, from $0.50 per share to $0.56 per share. Similar dividend hikes were witnessed across the entire U.S. banking space as the Fed cleared them of stress tests.
Another major U.S. bank, Wells Fargo, moved up a spot from 45th to 44th as the bank exceeded bottom-line expectations, but fell short of top-line expectations.
The REIT rally on the Most Watched Stocks List in 2017 was led by Realty Income as the stock gained more than 10 places on this list. Last week saw more of the same as O went up another spot from 24th to 23rd. Monthly dividend income at a yield that’s close to 5% is an attractive proposition for any dividend investor. Another REIT W.P. Carey also moved up a place from the 10th to the 9th spot. Canadian bank Toronto Dominion also moved up a spot from the 36th to the 35th spot as the bank raised certain fixed mortgage rates.
Our Most Watched Stocks List is a user-generated, interest-based ranking of dividend-paying stocks, giving you a real-time snapshot of buying interest in the market. Generated by our Premium members’ watchlists, it’s aggregated and ranked by the most watched criteria.
The list has been designed to help income investors navigate the top dividend stocks being tracked by one of the world’s most advanced investing communities.
