First the bad: My trades today overall lost money. So out of the gate I’m into a bunch of stocks: BIIB, PRGN, FMD, BONT, JRJC, FCL, WNR, STLD, ATPG, XIDE, short QID, APWR. About 30minutes into the trading session and I’m up overall as FCL, WNR, BIIB, PRGN, and short QID start moving my way. Then the market rapidly [...]

ATPG, BIIB, BONT, FCL, FMD, JRJC, PRGN, STLD, WNR, XIDE, GNK, APWR, TBSI, BRCM, STKL and likely going long the indexes with 873 SPX looking veddy nice. Warning: No guarantees I’ll be holding these in 2 minutes, so don’t buy them on this posting. Tags: atpg, biib, BONT, FCL, fmd, jrjc, prgn, stld, wnr, XIDE

If you are looking for dividend buys, here are some stocks going ex-dividend during the last half of July. Most of the following stocks have a PE below 20, all have PEG ratios below 2.5, and yields over 2.5%.

First Defiance Financial (FDEF) 7/9/2008 Yield: 6.62% PE: 8
Horizon Financial Corp (HRZB) 7/9/2008 Yield: 9.22% PE: 4
West Coast Bancorp (WCBO) 7/9/2008 Yield: 6.62% PE: 13
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) 7/9/2008 Yield: 3.52% PE: 21
Washington Federal Inc. (WFSL) 7/9/2008 Yield: 4.75% PE: 12
BB&T Corporation (BBT) 7/9/2008 Yield: 7.78% PE: 8
Ennis, Inc. (EBF) 7/9/2008 Yield: 4.11% PE: 9
Capital Bank Corporation (CBKN) 7/10/2008 Yield: 3.72% PE: 13
Gevity HR, Inc. (GVHR) 7/11/2008 Yield: 3.90% PE: 22
Heritage Financial Corporation (HFWA) 7/11/2008 Yield: 6.08% PE: 9
Lithia Motors, Inc. (LAD) 7/11/2008 Yield: 11.86% PE: 6
Oxford Industries, Inc. (OXM) 7/11/2008 Yield: 3.82% PE: 12
Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR) 7/11/2008 Yield: 3.45% PE: 14
Watsco, Incorporated (WSO) 7/11/2008 Yield: 4.36% PE: 19
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) 7/11/2008 Yield: 2.65% PE: 22
The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (BONT) 7/11/2008 Yield: 3.87% PE: 16
City Holding Company (CHCO) 7/11/2008 Yield: 3.49% PE: 13
Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR) 7/11/2008 Yield: 3.52% PE: 12
McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) 7/14/2008 Yield: 3.33% PE: 14
Quaker Chemical Corporation (KWR) 7/15/2008 Yield: 3.71% PE: 16
WD-40 Company (WDFC) 7/15/2008 Yield: 3.69% PE: 15
CBRL Group, Inc. (CBRL) 7/16/2008 Yield: 3.46% PE: 7
Royal Bank of Canada (RY) 7/22/2008 Yield: 4.66% PE: 12
Spartech Corporation (SEH) 7/22/2008 Yield: 5.89% PE: 28
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM) 7/23/2008 Yield: 2.59% PE: 11
The Clorox Company (CLX) 7/24/2008 Yield: 3.04% PE: 17
Zenith National Insurance Corp. (ZNT) 7/29/2008 Yield: 5.59% PE: 6
Lifetime Brands, Inc. (LCUT) 7/30/2008 Yield: 3.35% PE: 36
Bank of Montreal (BMO) 7/30/2008 Yield: 6.94% PE: 11

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of buying dividends, you should check out the article on dividend buying. Also check out the list of dividend definitions.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Fred Fuld at Stockerblog.com

I've received questions recently about all the stock dividend dates, so I thought I would clarify them for you. In addition, for those who are interested in 'buying dividends', I have listed the stocks going ex-dividend during the first two weeks of July. Here's what each of the dividend dates mean.

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Here are a list of stocks going ex-dividend during the first two weeks of July.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) 7/1/2008 3.93% PE: 10.4263

SYSCO Corporation (SYY) 7/1/2008 2.99% PE: 16.8408

Tate & Lyle PLC (TATYY) 7/1/2008 3.32% PE: 17.991

Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) 7/2/2008 6.22% PE: 19.4786

Gentex Corporation (GNTX) 7/3/2008 2.60% PE: 18.9321

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) 7/7/2008 3.58% PE: 12.1352

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (ETH) 7/8/2008 3.29% PE: 12.02

Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) 7/8/2008 3.34% PE: 11.0073

Progress Energy, Inc. (PGN) 7/8/2008 5.74% PE: 15.8925

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) 7/8/2008 4.71% PE: 18.6114

West Coast Bancorp (WCBO) 7/9/2008 5.42% PE: 14.9482

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) 7/9/2008 3.01% PE: 23.0432

Gevity HR, Inc. (GVHR) 7/11/2008 3.44% PE: 24.4908

Lithia Motors, Inc. (LAD) 7/11/2008 9.21% PE: 7.8222

Oxford Industries, Inc. (OXM) 7/11/2008 3.27% PE: 13.0653

Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR) 7/11/2008 3.61% PE: 22.4132

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) 7/11/2008 2.66% PE: 21.9705

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (BONT) 7/11/2008 3.13% PE: 19.9036

Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR) 7/11/2008 3.14% PE: 13.1121

McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) 7/14/2008 3.13% PE: 14.8498

Quaker Chemical Corporation (KWR) 7/15/2008 3.02% PE: 18.1866

CBRL Group, Inc. (CBRL) 7/16/2008 2.70% PE: 8.8124

Author doesn't own any of the above.

By Fred Fuld at Stockerblog.com