The FTSE 100 (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) has been off its highs for the past month, having set a new five-year record of 6,534 points on 12 March. In April it even dipped back below the 6,300 level -- but the last couple of days have shown some recovery, with the index of top UK stocks climbing back to 6,406 at the time of writing today.
But if the FTSE isn't setting new records, there are plenty of individual companies that are. Here are three:
GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF - news)
GlaxoSmithKline just keeps doing it. Hitting new highs, that is, after reaching yet another 52-week record price of 1,563.5p today -- currently it's a little back from that, on 1,554p. The shares have had a cracking year so far, already up 16% since the start of the January, which is pretty good going for a £76bn FTSE 100 giant.
But even after that rise, current forecasts still only put the shares on an undemanding forward P/E of 13, with analysts predicting a full-year dividend yield of around 5%. I'm happy to be holding GlaxoSmithKline shares in the Fool's Beginners' Portfolio.
Electricity supplier SSE is flying as well, ending yesterday on a 52-week closing high of 1,535p after setting an intra-day record of 1,547p during the afternoon. The shares are down slightly today, at 1,528p, but that's still a rise of 15% over the past 12 months -- and it comes on top of a regular annual dividend yield of around 5.5-6% per year.
While dividend cover might not be the strongest in the business, analysts seem pretty much unanimous in expecting a payment of around 84p for the year to 31 March. On today's price, that would represent a yield of 5.5%. Full-year results are due on 22 May.
Also a Beginners' Portfolio constituent, housebuilder Persimmon is doing well, rising to a 52-week peak of 1,116p this morning before falling back a few pennies to 1,109p at the time of writing. This year will see a 75p-per-share special dividend paid as part of the firm's plan to return cash, but that should be it until a 95p payment scheduled for 2015 -- and that averages out to an annual yield of 5.1% on the current price.
We should be getting our next performance update from Persimmon on 18 April.
More market analysis can be found at www.fool.co.uk.
> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
