A balloon note is the name given to a promissory note in which repayment involves a balloon payment. A balloon mortgage is a written instrument that exchanges real property as security for the repayment of a debt, the last installment of which is a balloon payment, frequently all the principal of the debt.
Direct Stock Purchase and Dividend Reinvestment Plan. American Stock Transfer, Microsoft's transfer agent, administers a direct stock purchase plan and a dividend reinvestment program for the company. To find out more about these programs you may contact AST directly at (800) 285-7772, Option 1, between the hours of 5 A.M. and 5 P.M. Pacific Time, Monday through Fridays. Alternatively, you can the view program online by going to AST's Web site. Microsoft pays a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share.
At the end of the day, it is from FCF that healthy companies pay their dividends -- and as the FCF trends change, so too do a company's dividend policies. This is where I ran into something somewhat concerning. Over the past 12 months, Verizon has brought in $11.5 billion in FCF. There's nothing wrong with that. But in order to pay its dividend, the company used 80% of FCF.