Dividends

davholla

I am thinking about buying some shares with a good dividend.

A) How can I find out the dividend of FTSE 250 companies
Am I right in thinking that there the P/E ratio is almost important?
C) What is the easiest way of buying these?

BTW I have about £4k to invest and I am thinking of buying the day after Greece defaults.

DotMatrix

Not quite answering your question but in general companies with a high P/E number are young companies that are all about capital apprecaition via their share price. These sort of companies generally don't issue dividends. If you want to invest in a dividend based company look at more established companies who look to issue a dividend because they have nothing else to do with their retained earnings.

If you are just looking for dividends you need to study the dividend yield history of your potential investment.

You need to consider your tax status as the tax differential between share appreciation and dividends can be tough on your net figure.

Reaper

a) Digital Look is the one I use, pretty good for basic data particularly if you do the free sign up.
https://www.digitallook.com

b) It is important but does not tell you the whole story. There are dozens of ratios, and more. For example as you are interested in dividends the "Dividend Cover" is of interest. If it is 2 then that means the company can afford to pay the current dividend twice over. If it is under 1 then they are paying put more in dividends than they are earning in profits.

You might need to do some reading to understand all the data available.

c) There are lots of cheap no-frills providers such as iii, XO and SVS Securities for buying shares. Consider whether you want the shares in an ISA too.

Research, start small, and don't invest money you can't afford to lose.

jimjames

Based on your last line you may be waiting a while.

Why not buy an equity income fund? Far cheaper, safer and easier for that sort of sum of money and easy to keep in an ISA.

swift1_2

This is something I'm doing currently investing in high yielding FTSE350 stocks, you have a good chance of capital appreciation too. There are some fantastic household names yielding 7%+, though just a month or so ago you could have got above 9% plus a capital appreciation.

Good sites to see dividends are:
http://markets.ft.com/screener/customScreen.asp
http://investing.thisismoney.co.uk/performance/overview/index/NMX

Linton

davholla wrote: »

......

BTW I have about £4k to invest and I am thinking of buying the day after Greece defaults.

There is a good chance IMHO that markets will rise should Greece default. Markets tend to price in the "known unknowns" well in advance, and I believe have already priced in a Greek default. Markets hate uncertainty, it is now uncertain whether/when Greece will default. When it is known there will be one less thing for the markets to worry about.

swift1_2

Linton wrote: »

"known unknowns"

You sound like Donald Rumsfield ! :rotfl:

davholla

jimjames wrote: »

Based on your last line you may be waiting a while.

Why not buy an equity income fund? Far cheaper, safer and easier for that sort of sum of money and easy to keep in an ISA.

Is it cheaper?

pqrdef

If the dividends are that good, why aren't the shares more expensive?

DotMatrix

pqrdef wrote: »

If the dividends are that good, why aren't the shares more expensive?

If there is limited growth in a company from an analyst's point of view this will be reflected in a lower share price. You really have to look at the sector that a pontential investment sits in.
What is the average growth per the sector, what is the average dividend yield of companies in that sector. If you use those numbers as benchmarks you can judge where your potential investment sits.

Don't forget the price you see now in the FTSE is indicative of a price 12-18 months out with assumptions about the company
built in over that period. The share price will change when the general market changes and investors are informed/updated with the latest goings on in a company.

C_Mababejive

swift1 wrote: »

This is something I'm doing currently investing in high yielding FTSE350 stocks, you have a good chance of capital appreciation too. There are some fantastic household names yielding 7%+, though just a month or so ago you could have got above 9% plus a capital appreciation.

Good sites to see dividends are:
http://markets.ft.com/screener/customScreen.asp
http://investing.thisismoney.co.uk/performance/overview/index/NMX

Or you could lose your shirt.

EG RBS was £7.00 a go a few years back,then one day fell off the cliff and is now 28p.

With 4k to play with,id say to the OP,find a fund.

Check out HL or similar and do your homework.

Even the darlings of the FTSE 100 can falter ..eg NG going along all tickety boo..making loadsa money,paying fat divis,suddenly announces a rights issue..and follows that up recently with a plan to pay a 4% divi instead of the 7 or 8 that the punters have been spoiled with recently.