AT&T Inc. (T), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ): 3 Companies With High Dividend Payout Ratios You Don’t Want to Miss

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Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) had entered into a joint-venture with Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EEP) and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) in 2011 for constructing the Texas express pipeline. Under this joint-venture, Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) has a 50% ownership interest. The construction of this pipeline is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2013. The pipeline is 580 miles long, stretching from Skellytown to Mont Belvieu. The initial transporting capacity of this pipeline will be 280,000 barrels of NGL per day, and it will be capable of expanding up to 400,000 barrels per day. This pipeline will start generating revenue in 2014.

With these capacity expansions, the revenue-generating abilities of the company will increase. Furthermore, it is estimated that the free cash flow to equity of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) will be around $1.8 billion in 2014.

A company focusing on growth through capital expenditure

In the first-quarter results announcement this year, AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T) reiterated its focus on Project VIP. It has already invested $4.3 billion in the first quarter. Moving forward, the investment in 2014 and 2015 will be $20 billion per year. This indicates a saving of $4 billion from the levels announced last year. The company expects its 270 million customers to be on the LTE network by the end of 2013. The driver of the Project VIP, mobile data, and the smartphone subscribers, will continue to grow significantly because of this improved network.

AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T) used to upgrade its customers phones and services that are purchased directly from its stores in a period of 20 months. Recently, AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T) announced an increase in the time period of upgrading phones and services, to 24 months. The company announced that this amendment will be on a prospective basis and will be applicable to all the new and existing customers. The company experiences the maximum number of upgrades in the fourth-quarter of every year. Due to this change, the analysts estimate that AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T) will have to upgrade 1 million fewer equipment and services in the current year’s fourth-quarter, saving $400 million.

Conclusion

The acquisition of Wind Mobile will make Verizon a key foreign player in the Canadian telecom market because of the oligopolistic nature of telecom market in Canada. Also, with the acquisition of 45% of Vodafone’s stake in its wireless business, it will become the 100% owner of its wireless business. Thus, the future growth prospects of Verizon look promising.

With several joint-venture projects ready to kick-start in late 2013, Enterprise Products Partners will benefit from these projects in 2014 and 2015.

Project VIP will increase AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T)’s future cash flow generation capacity as it improves the company’s subscriber base. Also, the cost reduction strategy will help it to save $400 million in the current year. With this, it is expected that the company will declare higher dividend in 2013 and 2014.

Thus, I recommend a buy on all three stocks for investors seeking regular income.

The article 3 Companies With High Dividend Payout Ratios You Don’t Want to Miss originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Shweta Dubey.

Shweta Dubey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners L.P. Shweta is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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