Investment Banker Adds 11% to Dividend

Hello and welcome to Dividend Brief, the two-times weekly newsletter focused on dividend investing.

Today, we will look into Dow Chemicals, Apple, and Microsoft, highlight a few dividend stocks worth watching, as well as share companies that are about to pay a dividend in the next few days.

Materials

Dow Completes Sale of Adhesives Business in Strategic Move

Dow has completed the sale of its flexible packaging laminating adhesives division to a French adhesives manufacturer for $150 million. The transaction covers five production facilities located in Italy, the United States, and Mexico, along with product lines that include laminating adhesives and heat-seal coatings.

This move aligns with Dow’s strategy to realign its portfolio for growth and focus on long-term value creation. Proceeds from the sale will support its broader capital allocation plans. Despite the divestment, Dow remains active in the adhesives market, retaining water-based, acrylic, and other adhesive solutions as part of its ongoing growth initiatives.

In a related effort to enhance sustainability, Dow recently partnered with an international firm to promote recycled resins in automotive packaging. Additionally, the company has expanded its recycling capabilities with the acquisition of a mechanical recycling business earlier this year and introduced new technologies at its U.S. innovation hub.

This sale marks another step in Dow’s broader strategy to streamline its operations while supporting a more circular economy. It also reflects the increasing importance of sustainable solutions in the adhesives and packaging sectors.

DOW currently trades at $43 and pays a dividend of 70 cents per share, a yield of 6.38%.

Music & Entertainment

This Company Could Revolutionize the Music Industry

Goldman Sachs projects a $4.2 billion opportunity in the music industry, fueled by the rise of superfans and direct-to-fan engagement.

One company is at the forefront of this transformation, offering proprietary technology—protected by 15 granted patents—that allows artists to scale personalized fan experiences like never before.

Positioned to capture 60% of this emerging market by 2027, the company has already secured partnerships with top artists and major record labels.

Its innovative approach is not only reshaping how music is monetized but also creating significant value for early investors.

This could be your chance to invest in a leader driving the next wave of growth in the music industry.

Click here to discover more about this company and its transformative potential.

Tech

Apple Explores AI Advancements with Amazon’s Custom Chips

Apple is leveraging Amazon Web Services' (AWS) custom artificial intelligence chips for its operations, including search services, while exploring how these chips can enhance the pretraining of its AI models. This collaboration highlights Apple’s strategic use of AWS technology as it competes in the AI landscape alongside other cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

At a recent AWS conference, Apple shared insights into its decade-long reliance on the platform for services such as Siri, Apple Maps, and Apple Music. The company highlighted efficiency improvements achieved using Amazon’s Inferentia and Graviton chips, which are optimized for AI tasks. Additionally, Apple is testing Amazon's latest Trainium2 chip to evaluate its potential for pretraining proprietary AI models, signaling interest in diversifying AI processing strategies.

Apple’s adoption of custom AI chips underscores its broader focus on optimizing performance and reducing costs in AI development. This approach aligns with industry efforts to find alternatives to Nvidia’s dominant AI hardware. Apple has also made strides with its generative AI tools, integrating these capabilities into devices and services while processing complex tasks through its own infrastructure. These efforts demonstrate Apple’s commitment to advancing its AI ecosystem with tailored solutions.

AAPL currently trades at $242 and pays a dividend of 25 cents per share, a yield of 0.41%.

Tech

Microsoft Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Cloud Licensing Overcharges in the UK

Microsoft is facing a lawsuit in the UK, seeking over $1.27 billion in damages, accused of unfairly overcharging customers of rival cloud services. The lawsuit claims that businesses using Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, or Alibaba Cloud are forced to pay higher prices for Windows Server licenses when running on those platforms compared to using Microsoft’s own Azure service.

The legal action argues that Microsoft leverages its dominant position in cloud-based server operating systems to impose inflated fees on companies, pushing them to migrate to Azure. Thousands of UK businesses are included in the class action, which is an opt-out process, meaning any affected company can receive compensation if Microsoft loses the case.

This lawsuit coincides with an ongoing investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into anti-competitive behavior in the cloud industry. Microsoft recently settled a similar complaint in the EU over its software licensing practices, but legal challenges continue, including fresh complaints from companies like Google and OVHCloud. The outcome of this case could have far-reaching consequences for competition and pricing in the cloud computing sector globally.

MFST currently trades at $430 and pays a dividend of 83 cents per share, a yield of 0.77%.

Technology

This Company Could Redefine the Smartphone Industry

Imagine a company that transforms smartphones from costly devices into tools for earning and saving money.

With over $325M generated for users and an underserved market of billions, this innovation is addressing a global need while delivering impressive results.

With 32,481% revenue growth and shares available at just $0.26, this small cap is positioned to make waves in the tech sector.

Early investors could see significant returns as the company scales its groundbreaking platform.

Click here to uncover the potential of this company and secure your stake in a market-changing opportunity.

DTE increased its dividend payout to $1.09 per share, an increase of 7%. Its new forward yield is 3.55%.

RJF grew its dividend payout to 50 cents per share, an increase of 11%. Its new forward yield is 1.21%.

BEN upped its dividend payout to 50 cents per share, an increase of 3%. Its new forward yield is 5.65%

BNS decreased its dividend payout to 75 cents per share, a cut of 2%. Its new forward yield is 5.5%.

EMB lowered its dividend payout to 67 cents per share, a cut of 1%. Its new forward yield is 6.0%.

BWLP shrunk its dividend payout to 42 cents per share, a cut of 27%. Its new forward yield is 13.9%.