February 2023 Newsletter

In my 2022 Annual Review of DivGro, I announced my decision to move DivGro to another platform where registered users can follow my continuing journey of Dividend Growth Investing and Options Trading. 

I'm planning to formally launch the new site on 1 May 2023.

Following several inquiries, I decided to share details of the new site now even though it's still very much in progress. The site contains only a few articles and a live view of my DivGro portfolio. Some pages are tagged Members Only now, but when I formally launch they will become Paid Members Only. The site will also contain free content.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For February 2023

Welcome to the February edition of my monthly series of 10 Dividend Growth Stocks. In this series, I rank a selection of Dividend Radar stocks and present the ten top-ranked stocks for further research and possible investment. 

This month I screened for high-yielding, discounted stocks with 5-year dividend growth rates of at least 7%. Stocks with forward yields above 4% and exceeding their 5-year average yields qualified. 

I ranked the candidates that passed my screens by sorting them in descending order by quality score, using tie-breaking metrics where needed. I'm presenting the ten top-ranked stocks for your consideration.

2022 Annual Review Of DivGro

Welcome to the tenth annual review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks! 

I created DivGro in January 2013 to create the proverbial dividend-generating machine. DivGro has grown beyond my wildest dreams and now generates dividend income averaging $3,824 per month. With less than ten years to go before I retire, I plan to continue reinvesting all dividends and allow my portfolio to grow even more. 

In annual reviews, I look at DivGro's performance as measured by dividend income, dividend increases, annualized returns, and rate of return. I also share some highlights of the past year.

The Dividend Aristocrats Ranked By Quality Scores

The annual rebalancing and subsequent changes to the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index have produced a new list of 67 dividend growth stocks called the Dividend Aristocrats.

I rank the Dividend Aristocrats using Quality Snapshots, an elegant and effective system for assessing the quality of dividend growth stocks. As in prior editions of this article, I identify the top opportunities for income, growth, and total return investors.

Additionally, I provide a downloadable spreadsheet with fundamental and added value data of all the Dividend Aristocrats.

Quarterly Review of DivGro: Q4-2022

Welcome to the 40^th quarterly review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. 

Quarterly reviews provide a summary of dividend income, dividend changes, and transactions executed in the past quarter. I also provide some charts showing various portfolio statistics. These reviews are mostly informational and help me to track progress over time.

My portfolio generated more than $11,580 of dividend income this quarter, and I'm projecting dividend income of at least $11,970 per quarter going forward.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For January 2023

Welcome to another edition of my monthly series of 10 Dividend Growth Stocks. In this series, I rank a selection of Dividend Radar stocks and present the ten top-ranked stocks for further research and possible investment. 

This month, I screened for high-quality stocks with great growth and income prospects and very safe dividends. Additionally, I screened for stocks trading at discounted valuations, so this month's stocks offer great value as well! 

I ranked the stocks using a new version of Quality Snapshots in which I added another quality indicator, 
Portfolio Insight's Dividend Quality Grade. 

The Dividend Kings Ranked By Quality Score

Dividend Kings are great companies that have increased their annual dividend payouts for 50 or more consecutive years! This achievement is remarkable because these companies have delivered ever-increasing dividends to investors through economic recessions, market crashes, technological revolutions, and changes in consumer tastes!

In this article, I rank the Dividend Kings using quality scores obtained from a variation of DVK Quality Snapshots in which I replaced one quality indicator and added another. With a total of six quality indicators, each scored out of 5 points, the version of Quality Snapshots I'm using in this article has a maximum quality score of 30 points. 

Based on their quality scores, I rate stocks as Exceptional (29-30), Excellent (26-28), Fine (21-25), Decent (16-20), Poor (11-15), and Inferior (0-10). Investment Grade ratings have quality scores in the range of 16-30, while Speculative Grade ratings have quality scores below 16 points. 

This article updates one I wrote in April 2022. 

7 Dividend Growth Stocks For January 2023

Happy New Year!

I’m excited to present the January edition of my monthly series of dividend growth [DG] stocks picked from Dividend Radar.

Dividend Radar is a weekly automatically generated spreadsheet of DG stocks with dividend increase streaks of five or more years. It is compiled by Portfolio Insight and provided as a free resource for individual and commercial use, with no registration required.

To find candidates for further research and possible investment, I use different screens from month to month. This month, I’m deploying another variation of DVK Quality Snapshots to identify the highest-quality Dividend Radar stocks.

Monthly Review Of DivGro: December 2022

Welcome to the December review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. This is the 120^th monthly review since founding DivGro in January 2013, completing ten years of dividend growth investing and blogging!

In monthly reviews, I summarize transactions, dividends received, and dividend changes and how those events impact DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI).

In December, I opened one new position and added shares to three existing positions. Additionally, I closed one position. I also replace two positions called away by options assignments. Twelve DivGro stocks announced dividend increases in December, while one announced a dividend cut, and another will pay smaller dividends in USD due to exchange-rate fluctuations. The net result of these changes is that PADI decreased by about 0.2% in December. Year over year, PADI increased by 16.7%.

As for dividend income, in December, I received dividends totaling $5,927 from 50 stocks in my portfolio, a year-over-year increase of 25%. In 2022, I collected $47,646 in dividends, or about 110% of my 2022 goal of $43,200. 

10 Years

Today I'm celebrating a decade since founding DivGro!

I posted my first DivGro article on 10 January 2013. After blogging for 3,652 days and writing 1,351 articles (including this one), DivGro has seen more than 3,468,000 million page views! 

I've averaged an article every 2.7 days or about 11.3 articles every month and about 950 page views per day. 

The number of articles and page views are nice numbers to track, and I'm happy to celebrate these milestones. But DivGro is all about generating a reliable and growing dividend income stream, and tracking DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) is much more relevant!

DivGro's Best and Worst Performers in 2022

Every year-end, I write a short review article to announce DivGro's best and worst performers for the year. I consider only positions I owned throughout 2022, including dividend growth stocks, dividend-paying stocks, growth stocks, and closed-end funds. 

Of the 84 positions I've owned throughout the year, 53 stocks had negative returns, and 31 stocks had positive returns for the year. So it's not surprising that DivGro had a down year in 2022!

On average, these positions are down 6.22% for the year, though if I use a weighted average instead of an arithmetic average, the return is slightly better at -5.05%! These returns exclude dividends. 

This year's best performer is Chevron (CVX), with a stock price increase of 51% in 2022! My worst performer in 2022 was Intel (INTC), down 49% since 1 January 2022. 

3 High-Yielding, Discounted Dividend Growth Stocks

I've been working with Portfolio Insight to develop a Dividend Quality Grade for dividend stocks. 

We evaluate all dividend-paying stocks and assess the likelihood of a dividend increase in the next twelve months. We also identify stocks at risk of freezing or cutting their dividends. In backtests, our approach accurately predicted a failure to continue dividend increases in more than 98% of cases!

For this article, I used a pre-release version of Dividend Quality Grades to extract Dividend Champions and Dividend Contenders with A+ Dividend Quality Grades. These are Exceptional dividend growth stocks with solid fundamentals and dividend increase streaks of ten years or more. 

Additionally, I screened for stocks trading below my fair value estimates. These stocks offer good value and are suitable for immediate investment.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For December 2022

Welcome to the final edition of my monthly series of 10 Dividend Growth Stocks for 2022. I rank a selection of dividend growth stocks in Dividend Radar and present the ten top-ranked stocks for further research and possible investment. 

This month, I used a new Dividend Quality Grade developed by Portfolio Insight as the primary screen. Specifically, I screened for Dividend Contenders with A+ Dividend Quality Grades. Moreover, I screened for stocks trading at discounted valuations, so this month's stocks offer great value! 

I ranked the candidates using a variation of DVK Quality Snapshots. The variation uses Value Line's Price Stability instead of Value Line's Safety Rank. 

Monthly Review of DivGro: November 2022

Welcome to the November review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. I provide a summary of transactions and dividends received in the past month. I also consider the impact on DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI).

In November, I did some portfolio reorganization. The main reason for doing so was to round out my positions, where possible, to multiples of 100 shares. I'm using options trading to boost dividend income, and for covered calls, I prefer having multiples of 100 shares so I can write covered calls on all my shares. 

I added shares to 17 existing positions and reduced my investment in one holding. Additionally, I closed five positions, including two closed-end funds (CEFs). Ten DivGro stocks announced dividend increases in November, while four positions were affected by dividend cuts or exchange-rate fluctuations. The net result of these changes is that DivGro's PADI decreased by about 0.1% in November. Year over year, PADI increased by 18.6%.

As for dividend income, in November, I received dividends totaling $2,598 from 25 stocks in my portfolio, a year-over-year decrease of 12%. So far in 2022, I've collected $41,718 in dividends, or about 97% of my 2022 goal of $43,200.

7 Dividend Growth Stocks For December 2022

Welcome to another edition of my monthly series, 7 Dividend Growth Stocks.  In this series, I present seven dividend growth stocks from Dividend Radar for further analysis and possible investment.

Dividend Radar is a weekly automatically generated spreadsheet of dividend growth stocks with dividend increase streaks of five or more years. It is compiled by Portfolio Insight and provided as a free resource for individual and commercial use, with no registration required.

I use different screens every month to find candidates for further research and possible investment. This month, I decided to screen for high-quality, high-yielding Dividend Achievers trading at reasonable valuations. 

Monthly Review Of DivGro: October 2022

I'm a little behind on my monthly reviews! It's December already, but I'm only now reviewing DivGro's activities in October! 

The goal of my monthly reviews is to share updates I've made to the portfolio and to provide a summary of dividends collected. I also look at how the month's activities have impacted DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI).

In October, I added shares to two existing positions, and seven DivGro stocks announced dividend increases in October, while one closed-end fund (CEF) I own announced a distribution cut. Additionally, I own some stocks that issue dividends in CAD (Canadian Dollars), and recent payments actually lowered PADI due to the impact of exchange-rate fluctuations. The net result of these changes is that PADI increased by about 0.7% in October and 24.1 year-over-year.

As for dividend income, in October, I received dividends totaling $3,064 from 31 stocks in my portfolio, a year-over-year increase of 36%. So far in 2022, I've collected $39,120 in dividends, or about 91% of my 2022 goal of $43,200.

The Highest Quality Dividend Achievers

The Dividend Achievers are companies that have increased their annual regular cash dividend payments for at least each of the last ten consecutive calendar or fiscal years. A trademarked property of the Nasdaq, the Dividend Achievers are tracked under license by several exchange-traded funds, including Invesco's PFM. 

In this article, I present the highest quality Dividend Achievers based on Quality Snapshots, an eloquent system developed by David Van Knapp for assessing the quality of dividend growth stocks. The system employs five quality indicators from independent sources and assigns 0-5 quality points to each quality indicator for a maximum score of 25 quality points.

I decided to use a variation of the original Quality Snapshots system to find the highest quality DG stocks among the Dividend Achievers. The variation uses Value Line's Price Stability instead of Value Line's Safety Rank.

Quarterly Review Of DivGro: Q3-2022

Welcome to the 39^th quarterly review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks.

Quarterly reviews provide a summary of dividend income, dividend changes, and transactions executed in the past quarter. I also provide some charts showing various portfolio statistics. These reviews are mostly informational and help me to track progress over time.

This quarter, DivGro generated more than $11,780 in dividend income, and I'm projecting dividend income of at least $11,930 per quarter going forward.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For November 2022

Welcome to another edition of my monthly series of 10 Dividend Growth Stocks. In this series, I rank a selection of dividend growth stocks in Dividend Radar and present the ten top-ranked stocks for further research and possible investment. 

Last month, I experimented by replacing Value Line's Safety Rank in DVK Quality Snapshots with a ranking based on JUST Capital's Overall Rankings of America's largest publicly traded companies. In contrast to Value Line's coverage of 90%, JUST Capital provides rankings for only 50% of Dividend Radar stocks, which is insufficient for my purposes. 

This month, I'm back to using Value Line's Safety Rank in DVK Quality Snapshots. 

7 Dividend Growth Stocks For November 2022

After taking three months off, I'm resuming my monthly series, 7 Dividend Growth Stocks, on TheStreet.com. 

In this series, I present seven dividend growth stocks from Dividend Radar for further analysis and possible investment. Dividend Radar is a weekly automatically generated spreadsheet of dividend growth [DG] stocks with dividend increase streaks of five or more years.

Every month, I use different screens to find candidates. Using different screens highlights different aspects of dividend growth investing, such as value, yield, or growth. This month, I decided to use the top-ranked stocks in JUST Capital's 2022 Rankings of America's largest publicly traded companies as my primary screen.

Monthly Review Of DivGro: September 2022

Welcome to the September review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. My goal with these reviews is to share updates to my portfolio and to detail the dividends I received during the month. I also look at how DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) has changed.

In September, I added shares to one existing position, and ten DivGro stocks announced dividend increases in September. As a result, DivGro's PADI increased by about 1.1% in September. Year over year, PADI increased by 24.3%.

September is a quarter-ending month, which often produces significant dividend income totals and often new monthly records. While I received dividend income totaling $5,803 in September, it is not a new monthly record. The reason is that I received several large special dividends in January, and that monthly record of $6,023 still stands. 

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For October 2022

After two months off, I'm back with another edition of my monthly series, 10 Dividend Growth Stocks. In this series, I rank a selection of dividend growth stocks in Dividend Radar and present the ten top-ranked stocks for further research and possible investment. 

I usually rank stocks using DVK Quality Snapshots, but I'm mixing things up a bit this month! I'm experimenting with other quality indicators to replace Value Line's Safety Rank. To learn why I'm looking for a replacement, read this article!

Monthly Review Of DivGro: August 2022

Welcome to the August review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. 

These reviews aim to provide a summary of dividends received and to detail buy and sell transactions. Additionally, I look at how the month's activities have impacted DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI).

This month, I opened two new positions and added shares to four existing positions. Additionally, I closed one position and reduced my holdings in two positions. Three DivGro stocks announced dividend increases in August. The net result of these changes is that PADI increased by about 0.7% in August. Year over year, PADI increased by 31.5%.

Quarterly Review Of DivGro: Q2-2022

I've been away visiting family in South Africa, so I haven't had a chance to post my Quarterly Review of DivGro for Q2-2022. Since Q3-2022 is almost over, I better get to it!

 

In my quarterly reviews, I summarize dividend income, dividend changes, and transactions executed in the past quarter. Also, I provide some charts showing various portfolio statistics. My quarterly reviews are mostly informational and help me track progress over time.

My portfolio generated about $10,780 of dividend income this quarter, and I'm projecting income from dividends of at least $11,420 per quarter going forward.

Discussing Dividends on The Investing for Beginners Podcast

Recently, I chatted with Andrew Sather and Dave Ahern of The Investing for Beginners Podcast. 

Andrew and Dave have a stated goal of Simplifying the Language of Money so that you can navigate the market with confidence! 

In addition to the podcast, their website has many wonderful resources, including practical guides for learning about investing and the stock market.

I enjoyed the experience, and it was fun to talk with guys that also are passionate about dividend growth investing!