Dividend stocks are often the foundation for a great retirement portfolio. Dividend payments not only put money in your pocket, which can help hedge against any downward move in the stock market, but they're usually a sign of a financially sound company.Dividend payments also give investors the opportunity to reinvest into more shares of stock, thus boosting future dividend payments and compounding gains over time.
Yet not all income stocks are living up to their full potential. Utilizing the payout ratio, or the percentage of profits a company returns in the form of a dividend to its shareholders, we can get a good bead on whether or not a company has room to increase its dividend.
Ideally, we like to see healthy payout ratios between 50% and 75%. Here are a few income stocks with payout ratios currently far below 50% that could potentially double their dividends.
Stocks to double dividend payments are....
