Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now

LONDON -- I'm looking at some of your favorite FTSE 100 companies and examining how each will deliver their dividends.

Today, I'm putting iconic high street retailer�Marks and Spencer�Group� (LSE: MKS  ) under the microscope.

Dividend history: cut No. 1
All was rosy with M&S in the mid-1990s. Within its final results for the year ended March 1998, the company was able to toast five-year earnings-per-share growth of 62% and dividend growth of 77%. The 1997-1998 dividend was covered around twice by both adjusted and statutory EPS -- a healthy level of cover, you might think, with little imminent risk to shareholders' income.

However, M&S suffered a terrible second half the following financial year. Profits collapsed, the final dividend was held flat, and the total dividend for the year (14.4 pence) was barely covered by adjusted EPS and uncovered by statutory EPS.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: Singapore Exchange Limited (S68.SI)

Singapore Exchange Limited operates as an integrated securities and derivatives exchange in Singapore and related clearing houses. The company provides listing, trading, clearing, depository, market data, and connectivity services; and member services and issuer services for the securities and derivatives market, as well as counterparty guarantee services. Its security products include stocks, American depository receipts, business trusts, company warrants, global depository receipts, real estates investment trusts, securities borrowing and lending, stapled securities, certificates, exchange traded funds, exchange traded notes, extended settlement, and structured warrants; and fixed income products comprise retail bonds, retail preference shares, SGS bonds, and wholesale bonds. The company�s derivative products include equity index, interest rates, and dividend index; commodities comprise agriculture, energy, and metals; and bulk commodities include freight, foreign excha nge forwards, interest rate swaps, and oil. It also operates SGX AsiaClear, a clearing platform for over-the-counter traded financial derivatives for technically specified rubber 20 (TSR20) rubber contract, bulk commodities, freight, interest rate swaps, and oil derivatives, as well as operates as a commodity exchange. In addition, the company provides data and information services, such as securities book, SGX derivatives quote, SGX news, SGX securities and derivatives market direct feed, SGX live data and news, historical market data, and broker services; and computer services and maintenance, and software maintenance services. Singapore Exchange Limited was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Singapore.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: PICO Holdings Inc.(PICO)

PICO Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the water resource and water storage, real estate, insurance, and agribusiness businesses. Its water resource and water storage business acquires and develops water resources and water storage operations in the southwestern United States. The company?s real estate business acquires and develops partially-developed and finished residential housing lots in selected markets primarily in California. It also owns, leases, and sells properties in northern Nevada, which include sub?surface rights, such as mineral rights, water rights, and geothermal rights. As of December 31, 2010, this business owned or controlled a total of 490 finished lots, which included 21 completed homes and 10 partially completed homes; and 4,711 potential lots in various stages of entitlement. It also owned approximately 440,000 acres of land in northern Nevada. The company?s insurance business handles and resolves claims on expired polic ies comprising medical professional liability, property and casualty, and workers? compensation insurance policies. PICO Holdings, Inc. also involves in cash and fixed-income securities business, as well as acquires businesses and interests in businesses through the acquisition of private companies and the purchase of shares in public companies. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in La Jolla, California.

Top 5 Penny Stocks To Own For 2014: Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation(IPCC)

Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides personal automobile insurance with a concentration on nonstandard auto insurance in the United States. The company offers personal automobile insurance to individuals; mono-line commercial vehicle insurance to businesses; and classic collector insurance, which provides protection for classic collectible automobiles. It products provide coverage to individuals for liability to others for bodily injury and property damage, and for physical damage to an insured?s own vehicle from collision and various other perils. Infinity distributes its products primarily through a network of independent agencies and brokers. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Auto sales continue to rise and that is good news for small cap auto insurers Infinity Property and Casualty Corp (NASDAQ: IPCC), First Acceptance Corporation (NYSE: FAC) and Atlas Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AFH) which are focused on niche auto insurance markets.�A Yahoo! Autos blog post�recently noted that in August, automakers sold 1.5 million new vehicles for the highest rate in years. Moreover,�most industry forecasters expect sales to�return to the level they hit before the 2008 recession of 16 million vehicles a year. The blog post then went on to note the three forces driving auto sales:

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: FNB United Corp.(FNBN)

FNB United Corp. operates as the bank holding company for CommunityONE Bank, National Association that provides consumer, mortgage, and business banking services to individual and business customers in North Carolina. Its deposit products include checking accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company?s loan products portfolio comprises commercial and agricultural loans, real estate construction loans, real estate residential loans, and consumer loans. It also offers debit cards, credit cards, online and mobile banking, cash management, investment management, and trust services, as well as operates automated teller machines. In addition, it originates, underwrites, and closes loans for sale into the secondary market. FNB United operates through 45 offices. The company was formerly known as FNB Corp. and changed its name to FNB United Corp. in April 2006. FNB United Cor p. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Asheboro, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  The second stock, FNB United Corp. (FNBN), is 95.4% off of its three-year high, but it has also had a stock split in that time. It has also seen greater insider activity. Five unique insiders bought shares of the company, for a total number of six insider buy transactions in the past month.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In Right Now: Ohio Legacy Corporation(OLCB)

Ohio Legacy Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Premier Bank & Trust, National Association that provides retail and commercial banking services to its customers located in Stark, Wayne, and Belmont Counties in Ohio. The company offers a range of deposit products, including interest-bearing demand deposits, noninterest-bearing demand deposits, personal and business checking, time accounts, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, Internet banking, cash management, and direct-deposit services. It also provides commercial loans, construction loans, real estate mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, and installment and personal loans. In addition, the company offers safe deposit box facilities, courier services, night depository facilities, Internet banking, cash management, direct-deposit services, and electronic funds transfer services, as well as provides trust, wealth management, and investment brokerage services. It provides its banking s ervices through its four branch offices and a trust office. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in North Canton, Ohio. Ohio Legacy Corp. is a subsidiary of Excel Bancorp, LLC.