Dividend Stock News

FPB Financial Corp. Announces 2006 Second Quarter Earnings and Declares Dividends

Cleco Corporation Declares Regular Common and Preferred Dividends 

• CIT Declares Dividends for Second Quarter 2006
• HomeBanc Corp. Announces Quarterly Dividends
• Merrill Lynch Declares Dividends on Preferred Stock

Fool.com highlights four stocks that recently raised their dividends:

Show me a company that is propping up its dividend and I’ll show you a company worth watching. It’s not about the extra money; it’s about a company confident enough in its future earnings potential to be a bit more generous today.

The stocks are:

• RI
• CMI
• AOS
• WAG

In 2003, the Bush adminstration lowered the tax rate on dividends.   I looked a little deeper into the bill:

Soon after, the Congress passed the a bill which included some of the cuts Bush requested and which he signed into law on May 28, 2003. Under the new law dividends are taxed at a 15% rate for most individual taxpayers. Dividends received by low income individuals are taxed at a 5% rate until December 31, 2007 and become fully untaxed in 2008. These provisions are set to expire on January 1, 2011.

Also, the bill explicitly encourages longer-term investing:

The lower rates apply to assets held for more than one year.

Some up, some down:

• Cummins increases dividend, sets share buyback
  
• Eaton Vance Closed-End Bank Loan Funds Declare Monthly Dividends
• Alliant Energy Corporation Declares Common Stock Dividends
• Ford halves dividends, cuts fees

More dividend stock news.

• Nintendo Shareholders Reject Dividends Plan
• Lennar Corporation Declares Quarterly Dividends

• Ryerson Declares Dividends
• Morgan Stanley Municipal Income Opportunities Trust III Declared Monthly Income Dividends
• Schering-Plough Declares Dividends

Some announcements for the week:

•  Southern California Edison Declares Dividends
• Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Declares Second Quarter 2006 Cash Dividends
• UnionBancorp, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividends

• Global Payments Announces Third Quarter Dividend
• MacDermid, Incorporated Dividend Announcement
• UST Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend
• Chesapeake Utilities raises dividend
• PepsiCo Increases Dividend and Announces $8.5 Billion Share Repurchase Program

Apparently not.  According to the Google (GOOG) investors relation page:

No, we have never declared or paid a cash dividend nor do we expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.