AT&T Inc. (T), Philip Morris International Inc. (PM): The World’s Best Dividend Portfolio

Annaly Capital Management Inc Preferred Series D (NYSE:NLY-D) got hammered hard in recent weeks, spooked by rising interest rates and the potential end of quantitative easing. That fear also hit the company’s preferred stocks, though not nearly as hard. I’m still not convinced that interest rates are going much higher for a while yet, so I think the preferreds are a good place to stay for yield. In addition, they are among the highest-yielding preferreds that still have call protection, so if they go below par, it shouldn’t be too much. At less than 1% above par now, the Series D has low downside, especially relative to the common stock.

Dividends and earnings announcements
Here is the recent news on earnings and dividends:

Dividend news:

Southern went ex-dividend on May 2, and pays out $0.5075 per share on June 6.

Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) went ex-dividend on May 13, and pays out $0.31 per share on June 10.

Seaspan Corporation (NYSE:SSW) went ex-dividend on May 16, and paid out $0.3125 per share on May 30.

Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE:PCL) went ex-dividend on May 15, and paid out $0.44 per share on May 31.

Annaly Series D went ex-dividend on May 30, and pays out almost $0.48 per share on June 30.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) went ex-dividend on May 29, and pays outs $0.43 per share on June 30.

All that, of course, means more money coming into our pockets.

It’s fun to sit back and get paid and, with the market volatility, we might have a good chance to reinvest those dividends at good prices. Europe continues to be an absolute mess, and continued bad news will likely have stocks plunging again. If they do, I’ll be inclined to pick up more shares.

Foolish bottom line
I’ve been a fan of big dividends for a while, and I think this portfolio will outperform the market over time through the power of dividends. As I promised in the original article, I’ll continue to track and report on the portfolio’s progress, including news on these companies.

The article The World’s Best Dividend Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Jim Royal, Ph.D.

Jim Royal, Ph.D., owns shares of the 12 portfolio stocks mentioned in the table, as well as Gramercy and Sprott. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP), Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), National Grid plc (ADR) (NYSE:NGG), Retail Opportunity Investments Corp (NASDAQ:ROIC), Seaspan Corporation (NYSE:SSW), The Southern Company (NYSE:SO), and Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD). The Motley Fool owns shares of Gramercy Property, Brookfield Infrastructure, Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM), Retail Opportunity Investments, Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (REIT) (NYSE:RHP), Sprott, and Seaspan.

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