Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) reported that it was lifting its dividend by a sharp 28% to $0.32 per quarter from a prior payout of $0.25 per quarter.  Based upon the $32.67 closing bell, the new yield is now going to be about 3.9%.

The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) is still a relatively low dividend yield but the potash and fertilizers player is trying to get its payouts higher now that it has less and less influence held by the Cargill Trusts.  Its hike went up 150% to $0.125 from $0.05 per quarter.  The prior dividend yield will go from almost 0.4% up to just under 1.0% based upon a $51.17 closing price on Thursday.

Teekay Offshore GP LLC, the general partner of Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (NYSE: TOO) declared a cash distribution of $0.5125 per unit for the last quarter, an increase of $0.0125 or 2.5 percent from the previous quarter.

Teekay GP LLC, the general partner of Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE: TGP) declared a cash distribution of $0.675 per unit for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, up $0.045 or about 7 percent per unit from the previous quarter.

H.B. Fuller Company (NYSE: FUL) announced after the close on Thursday that it would increase its quarterly dividend from $0.075 to $0.085 per share of common stock for a 13% dividend increase.  The new yield is about 1.05%.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is being represented as a stock dividend, but this is a share structure change that is effectively a two-for-one stock split.

JON C. OGG

The company plans to use the proceeds to acquire new vessels, as well as for general corporate purposes.  Those acquisitions of vessels include vessels which Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK) has offered or may offer for it to acquire. Teekay raised roughly $130 million in another secondary offering this year.

Teekay’s units had risen nearly 50% this year and the units closed at $29.11 today against a 52-week range of $16.89 to $29.94.  In the after-hours reaction, those units were trading down nearly 5% around $27.70.

JON C. OGG

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (NYSE: POT) is surging after rejecting a $130 buyout offer.  Shares are up 28% at $144.00 on well over 2 million shares.  China Agritech, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAGC) closed at $15.28 and shares are trading up 8.5% at $16.59 on 40,000 shares.  Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ: SEED) closed at $8.33 and shares are up over 8% at $9.02 on more than 20,000 shares.

Fiserv Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV) is indicated up 2% above $51.00 this morning after Warren Buffett added the stocks as a new position inside Berkshire Hathaway’s public stock holdings.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) is down over 6% at $6.41 after having been down more than 8%… This is over an offering of up to 8,000,000 shares of its common stock in a stock loan to Bank of America.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX) is up 17% at $0.61 after positive earnings after items; Revenue was $76.8 million versus $70.1 million a year ago.

Pactiv (NYSE: PTV) is higher on reports that it may be acquired by the Rank Group from New Zealand. Shares are trading up over 8% at $33.65 on about 100,000 shares.

Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) is lower and may challenge the $50.00 per share mark again.  We have seen nearly 50,000 shares trade hands and shares are down by more than 1% at $50.25.

Rick’s Cabaret International, Inc (NASDAQ: RICK) is indicated down 10% after a double-digit drop last night after earnings were $0.09 EPS and revenues were $19.93 million versus estimates of $0.20 EPS and $20.34 million.

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (NYSE: TOO) is down 5% at $22.00 on somewhat active volume after releasing that it plans to offer 5,000,000 common units for general partnership purposes, which includes funding vessel acquisitions.  It also plans to repay a portion of its outstanding credit facility debt.

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JON C. OGG

• Akamai Tech (NASDAQ: AKAM) Cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
• American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) cut to Underperform at Friedman Billings.
• Ariba (NASDAQ: ARBA) raised to Outperform at RBC Capital.
• Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) Added To Citigroup’s Top Picks list.
• Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) Raised to Buy from Hold at Banc Of America.
• Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ: DVAX) cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
• Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
• National City (NYSE: NCC) Raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
• Teekay Offshore (NYSE: TOO) raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
• Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) Raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
May 19, 2008

Jon Ogg produces and edits the "10 Stocks Under $10" newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.