Their essential products fuel their dividends

Article Excerpt

These two U.S. technology firms have held up well during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s thanks to their increasingly essential products. It’s also a good sign that their dividends are safe and that investors can look forward to more increases. NORTONLIFELOCK INC. $20 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol NLOK; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 600.4 million; Market cap: $12.0 billion; Dividend yield: 2.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.nortonlifelock.com) changed its name from Symantec (old symbol SYMC) following the $10.7 billion sale of its Enterprise Security business to Broadcom. The company used the cash to pay investors a $12.00-a-share special dividend. It also increased your regular quarterly dividend by a whopping 66.7%, to $0.125 a share. The new annual rate of $0.50 yields a solid 2.5%. NortonLifeLock is now focused on expanding its consumer business. Those operations make and sell computer antivirus and email-filtering software for individuals. At the same time, its LifeLock business sells identity-theft protection for individual consumers. The company is also in…