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It has been somewhat of a amazing ride in the interest rate markets since the Fed raised interest rates 2 weeks ago. While we figured that rates interest rates might fall a few basis points after the Fed Funds rate increase we didn't think they would fall 20 basis points!! We have watched the average preferred stock share gain about…

Two companies continued their streaks of raising dividends for at least seven years and still offer 4%-plus dividend yields, which are significantly higher than the average yields for their respective sectors. In addition to the extraordinary dividend income, both stocks have rewarded their shareholders with double-digit percentage share price increases over the last year. One of the companies has an…

H First Trust Advisors L.P. declared dividends for more than a dozen of funds it manages on March 20, 2017, but this article will focus on the three top-performing funds that pay a monthly dividend and yield at least 8.5%. In addition to the attractive dividend yields, share prices of these funds increased between 5.7% and 19.6% over the last…

Two companies, with ex-dividend dates on March 29, 2017, are extending their multi-year records of rising annual dividends and offering attractive yields of 4.5% and 5.5%, respectively. Additionally, one of the equities rewarded its shareholders with a 25% share price increase over the last year. Since some investors speculate that the financial sector is overbought and due for correction, these…

We had mentioned last week we would be making some purchases this week as well as executing a sale in the Blended Income Model Portfolio and we have done so yesterday. We have purchased full positions in 2 fixed-to-floating rate perpetual preferreds.  We have been, and continue to be, reluctant to purchase perpetual preferreds up until this point, but a…