3 Big-Name Stocks Just Announced Big-Time Dividend Increases

Group 1: Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) - The CCCA aims to address the duopoly of Visa and Mastercard in the credit card market, which some lawmakers and analysts argue leads to excessive swipe fees for merchants [1][2] - The act would require banks to offer at least one alternative payment network, potentially reducing the payment volume for Visa and Mastercard and negatively impacting their revenue [2] - Although the bill has bipartisan support, it has not advanced to a vote and is unlikely to do so before the new Congress begins [2] Group 2: Mastercard Financial Performance - Mastercard has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, but top-rated analysts have identified five other stocks as better investment opportunities [3][4] - The company raised its quarterly dividend by 15%, resulting in a new dividend of $0.76 per share, with an indicated yield of just under 0.6$15.9 billion, which represents over 3% of its market capitalization of $485 billion as of December 20 [7] Group 3: Regulatory Environment - Recent fears regarding regulation affecting Mastercard appear to have diminished, as executives from both Visa and Mastercard attended a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing [8]