Recent Buy: SDRL

Apr 25, 2014: Bought 72 shares of SDRL at $34.91 per share.

Established in 2005 as a Bermuda-based company, Seadrill Limited (SDRL) is an offshore deepwater drilling contractor providing worldwide services to the oil and gas industry. The company operates an extensive fleet comprising of drill ships, jack-up rigs, semi-submersible rigs and tender rigs for operations in shallow to ultra-deepwater areas and harsh and benign environments.

SDRL is a Dividend Challenger with a 5-year streak of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in March, June, September, and December. Starting Yield on Cost (YoC) is an impressive 11.23%.

Recent Buy: DLR

Apr 25, 2014: Bought 48 shares of DLR at $52.73 per share.

Digital Realty (DLR) is one of the 20 largest publicly-traded U.S. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with an equity market capitalization of approximately $7 billion. The company, through its controlling interest in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and subsidiaries of the Operating Partnership, owns, acquires, repositions and manages technology-related real estate.

DLR is a Dividend Contender with a 10-year streak of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in March, June, September and December. The current dividend is 83¢ per share, so starting yield on cost is 6.30%.

My New Watch List of Dividend Growth Stocks

Of all the pages on my blog, I tinker with my Watch List page most. The list contains tickers of candidate dividend growth stocks, organized by sector. It is a subset of Dave Fish's CCC stocks (Dividend Champions, Contenders, and Challengers), plus a small selection of non-CCC dividend paying stocks.

My goal with this post is to reconstruct my watch list by using a similar approach to the one I use every month to identify 10 candidate stocks. Additionally, I want to figure out what sector-balanced really means. I don't think it means having the same number of stocks in each sector.

Dividend Increases, April 1-15, 2014

Twice a month, I compile a table recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list. I like to keep track of dividend increases for stocks I own in DivGro so I can make Yield on Cost (YoC) adjustments. For other stocks in my watch list, dividend increases can be a trigger for looking more carefully at particular candidates.

Quarterly Review, Q1-2014

I've been rather busy this month doing various things, including the not-so-pleasant task of doing our taxes. I'm happy to be back to report on the first quarter performance of DivGro.

This quarter, I contributed capital funds in the amount of $12,500 to DivGro, including one bonus deposit of $5,000. Dividend income in Q1 totaled $580.67, down slightly from $586.74 received in Q4-2013. This is the first decrease in quarterly dividends for DivGro. I'm not concerned about that, as there is no fundamental change that caused the decrease. Some stocks (CHL, NTT, SNP) pay dividends semi-annually rather than quarterly, so total quarterly dividends wouldn't necessary increase every quarter.

I added four dividend growth stocks and removed one dividend growth stock in Q1-2014. Projected annual dividend income increased from $2,864.94 to $3,508.43, an increase of 22.45%.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks for April, 2014

This year, I've shifted focus to balancing my portfolio holdings across all 10 sectors in my watch list. My purchases in the first quarter have improved DivGro's diversification and, except for the Materials sector, I now have at least 2 holdings in each sector. I'll continue to bias purchases with the goal to improve DivGro's diversification, but only if I can identify candidates with good dividend yields and strong dividend growth rates trading at a discount to fair value.

Monthly Review: March 2014

March was another busy month for DivGro, with two buys and a sell (my first since starting DivGro in January 2013). Also, I reported on recent milestones, including 100+ posts and 40k page views. More importantly, though, March was an incredible month as far as dividend income is concerned – I earned $359 in dividend income!

Dividend Increases, March 16-31, 2014

Time again to report on dividend increases announced for stocks in my watch list during the past two weeks. I compile this information to see if any of the stocks I own in DivGro has raised dividend payments so I can make yield on cost (YoC) adjustments and properly track DivGro's projected annual dividend income. Another reason is to review dividend increases for stocks I don't own.