3 Big-Name Stocks With Dangerous Dividends

Today I’m bringing you a round of good news … and a round of bad news. The good? So far, this year’s been better than last for dividend hounds (like us) hoping to dodge a nasty payout cut. According to Standard & Poor’s, 85 American companies cut their payouts in January and February. That’s still a big number, but it’s down sharply from 119 in the first two months of 2016. That’s partly because we’re another year out from the oil crash, and the first two months of 2016 saw some big cuts in the sector. ConocoPhillips (COP), for example, dropped its first cut in 25 years—to the tune of 67%—on shareholders, while Precision Drilling (PD) tossed its payout entirely. The bad news? Just because the goo is hanging in just below $50 a barrel and the number of cutters is down doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods. ... Read more