Expired Options (January 2020)

Several options I'd sold were slotted to expire on Friday, 17 January. Some of them were in the money, meaning the options would have been assigned if I didn't take any actions.

In this article, I provide a summary of the actions I took to avoid assignment and I present potential replacement trades for the expired options.

Summary Of Dividend Increases In 2019

This article presents a summary of dividend increases announced in 2019, as covered in my weekly Dividend Increases article series. These articles cover dividend increases announced for dividend growth stocks in the Dividend Champions List (CCC list).

In preparing for this article, I excluded dividend increases of stocks not in the latest available CCC list (dated 12/31/19). I covered dividend increases announced by 520 companies in 2019, several of which increased their dividends more than once in 2019.

2019 Annual Review Of DivGro

This is the seventh annual review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. I created DivGro in January 2013 to generate a reliable and growing dividend income stream.

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

Keeping track of DivGro in a public forum helps me to learn and grow as a dividend growth [DG] investor. Much of my learning comes from the research I do while writing articles, but I've also learned a lot from interacting with like-minded investors. Thank you kindly for your comments, questions, support, and encouragement!

Quarterly Review of DivGro: Q4 2019

This is the 28^th quarterly review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks.

My quarterly reviews summarize the transactions executed in the past quarter and provide a summary of dividend income and dividend changes. Additionally, I include charts showing various portfolio statistics. The reviews are mostly informational and help me to track progress over time.

My portfolio generated $5,769 of dividend income this quarter and I'm projecting dividend income of at least $8,786 per quarter going forward.

Summary Of Dividend Increases In Q4 2019

In this article, I summarize the dividend increases announced in the fourth quarter of 2019 (Q4 2019), as covered in my weekly Dividend Increases article series. These articles cover dividend increases announced for dividend growth stocks in the Dividend Champions List [CCC list].

In preparing for this article, I excluded dividend increases of stocks not in the latest available CCC list (dated 12/31/19). I covered dividend increases announced by 149 companies in Q4 2019.

DivGro's Best and Worst Performers in 2019

Now that 2019 is in the rearview mirror, I wanted to review the best and worst performers in my DivGro portfolio in 2019. Unlike 2018, when DivGro's performance was a mixed bag, 2019's performance has been stellar!

Of the 53 positions I've owned throughout the year, only four stocks are trading down for the year. On average, these stocks are up 24% for the year!

My worst performer was Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), down 13.7% since January 2019. On the other hand, my best performer (by far) was Apple (AAPL), whose stock price increased by 86.2% since January 2019.

Monthly Review Of DivGro: December 2019

Welcome to the December review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. The goal of these reviews is to provide a summary of dividends received and to detail buy and sell transactions. I also look at how DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) has changed.

In December, I added shares to four existing positions. Nine DivGro stocks announced dividend increases in December. The net result of these changes is that PADI increased by about 1.8% in December. Year over year, PADI increased by 14.4%.

Options Update: December 2019

Welcome to the final options update article of 2019!

I write monthly update articles to summarize options trades and to keep track of options income. These updates also serve as a status report on open options and the obligations I still have.

I've achieved my 2019 goal to collect at least $21,000 in options income. In fact, I smashed that goal with options income totaling $30,120 in 2019 and easily topped my dividend income of $25,542 in 2019!

Dividend Increases: December 23-27, 2019

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch is one way to identify candidates for further analysis. Companies can only increase their dividends regularly and sustainably if earnings grow sufficiently.

I monitor dividend increases in the Dividend Champions List [CCC list].

In the past week, one company in the CCC list decided to increase its dividend. The dividend increase happens to be a double-digit percentage increases!

The 57 Dividend Aristocrats Ranked By Quality Score

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index is a list of companies in the S&P 500 that have increased their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. The list is maintained by Standards & Poors and updated each January.

I use the DVK quality scoring system to rank the Dividend Aristocrats. There are 39 Dividend Kings in the highest-quality category with quality scores in the 20-25 range.

The article includes tables listing key metrics, quality indicators, the so-called Chowder number, as well as fair value estimates. High-quality Dividend Aristocrats trading at or below fair value are suitable for further research and possible investment.

Expired Options (December 2019)

Two options I'd sold were slotted to expire on Friday, 20 December.

When options expire, the obligations I have related to those options seize to exist. For puts, there no longer is a chance that I would have to buy shares and the margin that was set aside as collateral gets released. For covered calls, there no longer is a chance that my shares will be called away.

Expiration creates an opportunity to replace some of the expired options with new ones in the coming weeks. In this article, I provide a summary of expired options and discuss potential replacement trades.

Additionally, I discuss what happened with in the money options that would have expired this month. Sometimes, I decide to roll forward such options to avoid assignment. The alternative is doing nothing and waiting for an assignment.

7 High-Quality Dividend Growth Stocks Trading At Or Below Fair Value

This article presents 7 high-quality and discounted dividend growth [DG] stocks with a high likelihood of delivering annualized returns of at least 8%.

For each stock, I present key metrics, quality indicators, a fair value estimate, and the so-called Chowder number.

In my view, the stocks are good candidates for further research and possible investment.

The DVK Quality Scoring System

David Van Knapp [DVK] presented an elegant and effective quality scoring system in this article on high-quality, high-yield dividend growth [DG] stocks. The system employs five widely used quality indicators from independent sources and assigns 0-5 points to each quality indicator, for a maximum of 25 points.

I've adopted the quality scoring system as the primary way I assess the quality of DG stocks. While there are other factors I consider when selecting stocks for possible investment, I love the simplicity of this system. It does a remarkable job identifying high-quality stocks!

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For December 2019

The Dividend Champions [CCC] list is a wonderful resource for dividend growth [DG] investors. It contains more than 800 stocks trading on U.S. exchanges that have paid higher dividends for at least five consecutive calendar years. An accompanying spreadsheet provides valuable data and is updated monthly, courtesy of SA author Justin Law.

In this article, I rank a subset of the CCC stocks and present the 10 top-ranked stocks for consideration. I now use a ranking system derived from David Van Knapp's quality scoring system, which employs five widely used quality indicators from independent sources and assigns 0-5 points to each quality indicator, for a maximum of 25 points.

This month I decided to rank CCC stocks that have high 5-year dividend growth rates [DGRs] and strong 5-year performances.

Dividend Increases: December 16-20, 2019

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch is one way to identify candidates for further analysis. Companies that regularly raise their dividend payments show confidence in future earnings growth potential.

I look for dividend increase announcements for stocks in the Dividend Champions List [CCC list]. This week, 8 companies in the CCC list announced dividend increases, including two of the stocks I own.

Three of this week's dividend increases are double-digit percentage increases!