Banks Increasing Dividends

Starting with a list of banks that increased their dividends during the fourth quarter, TheStreet has isolated the ones paying the most to investors, along with discussing three well-known bank dividend stocks. Most of the five banks we're focusing on earned enough in the fourth quarter to comfortably support additional dividend increases and none of the banks owed bailout funds to the government, but only one - the thinly-traded Norwood Financial (NWFL) appears to be a bargain at current prices.

For an investor seeking a steady dividend, it's important to consider the direction of a bank's earnings performance at this point in the credit cycle, and whether they currently earn enough to comfortably support the dividend, or can reasonably be expected to do so in the near future. Three of the most familiar names to dividend-seeking in bank stock investors didn't raise dividends recently, but feature yields that are competitive with the highest yield among the group that raised dividends in Q4.

Source: The Street

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