24/7 Wall St. Insights

• Companies that consistently raise their dividends often have strong balance sheets.
• Dividend stocks will be more in focus as interest rate cuts begin.
• Sit back and let dividends do the heavy lifting for a simple, steady path to serious wealth creation over time. Grab a free copy of “7 Things I Demand in a Dividend Stock,” plus get our two best dividend stocks to own today: Access 2 legendary, high-yield dividend stocks Wall Street loves.

After almost 15 years of a low-interest rate environment, which has reversed significantly over the last two years, interest rate cuts are coming. Many investors will continue to turn to equities for growth potential and solid and dependable dividends. These stocks help provide a passive income stream and increase the total return potential.

Total return is the combined increase in a stock’s value plus dividends. For instance, if you buy a stock at $20 that pays a 3% dividend, and it goes up to $22 in a year, your total return is 13%. That is, 10% for the increase in stock price and 3% for the dividends paid.

This week, we’ve identified a top Wall Street technology giant expected to increase its dividend by a stunning 10% and another top company also poised to increase its payout to shareholders. Our 24/7 Wall St. research universe shows numerous reputable Wall Street firms rate both stocks at Buy.

While there’s always a chance that the companies don’t raise their dividends, leading analysts anticipate both to do so based on their past dividend payout increases.

Why do we cover stock dividend increases?

Not only is increasing dividends and returning capital to investors an excellent sign from corporate  C-Suite management, but it also shows that the companies are doing well financially and have the earnings and cash flow strength to increase the payouts.

Lam Research

This semiconductor capital equipment giant has been on fire but still has massive upside potential. Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used to fabricate integrated circuits.

The company offers:

• ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten metallization applications
• SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing
• SOLA ultraviolet thermal processing products for film treatments
• VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD ALD products

It also provides SPEED gap-fill high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition products and Striker single-wafer atomic layer deposition products for dielectric film solutions.

In addition, Lam Research offers:

• Flex for dielectric etch applications
• Kiyo for conductor etch applications
• Syndion for through-silicon via etch applications
• Versys metal products for metal etch processes

Further, it provides:

• Coronus bevel clean products to enhance die yield
• Da Vinci, DV-Prime, EOS, and SP series products to address various wafer-cleaning applications
• Metryx mass metrology systems for high-precision in-line mass measurement in semiconductor wafer manufacturing

Investors are currently receiving a 0.94% yield. The company is expected to raise the dividend to $2.20 from $2.00, an incredible 10% increase.

Greif

While off the radar, this stock has been in a strong uptrend this summer and looks to trade higher. Greif Inc. (NYSE: GEF) produces and sells industrial packaging products and services worldwide.

The company operates through three segments:

• Global Industrial Packaging
• Paper Packaging & Services
• Land Management segments

The Global Industrial Packaging segment produces and sells industrial packaging products, including:

• Steel, fiber, and plastic drums
• Rigid and flexible intermediate bulk containers
• Closure systems for industrial packaging products
• Transit protection products
• Water bottles
• Remanufactured and reconditioned industrial containers
• Various services, such as container life cycle management, filling, logistics, warehousing, and other packaging services to chemicals, paints and pigments, food and beverage, petroleum, industrial coatings, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, mineral products, and other industries.

The Paper Packaging & Services segment produces and sells:

• Containerboards, corrugated sheets and containers, and other corrugated and specialty products to customers in the packaging, automotive, food, and building products markets
• Produces and sells coated and uncoated recycled paperboard and recycled fiber
• This segment’s corrugated container products are used to ship various products, such as home appliances, small machinery, grocery products, automotive components, books, furniture, and various other applications

The Land Management segment trades and regenerates timber properties and sells timberland and special-use properties. As of October 31, 2023, this segment owned approximately 175,000 acres of timber properties in the southeastern United States.

Shareholders are currently paid a very solid 3.25% yield. The company is expected to raise the dividend to $0.54 from $0.52.

Six Blue-Chip Dividend Giants Every Passive Income Investor Should Own

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