6 Dividend Increases, June 15-26, 2015

Includes: DIS • DTE • JW.A • O • USB • WPC

Summary

• I monitor dividend increases for stocks in my portfolio to make yield on cost adjustments for stocks I own and to identify dividend growth candidates for further analysis. 
• Companies that regularly increase their dividends show confidence in future earnings growth. 
• In the past 2 weeks, 6 companies on my watch list of dividend growth stocks announced dividend increases.

Recent Sell: South32 Ltd

Jun 23, 2015: Sold 40 shares of SOUHY at $7.10 per share.

Today I sold all 40 shares of South32 Ltd ADR (OTCMKTS:SOUHY) that I received when the company spun-off from BHP Billiton plc (NYSE:BBL). The 40 shares represented a small portion (only about 11%) of my regular position size. Regular readers will know that I prefer to buy shares in lots of about $2,500, so dealing with an outlier like SOUHY would have been bothersome.

I bought 100 shares of BBL in two lots, on 4 June 2013 (43 shares at $58.39 per share) and on 20 November 2014 (57 shares at $50.20 per share). Currently, BBL is trading at about $43 per share. The company announced its demerger plans on 19 August 2014. The spin-off was completed in May, although I received my 40 spin-off shares of SOUHY on 9 June.

Harley-Davidson: Dividend Stock Analysis

Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) is an American manufacturer of cruiser and touring motorcycles. Founded in 1903 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, HOG designs, manufactures, and sells heavyweight touring, custom and performance motorcycles as well as a complete line of motorcycle parts, accessories and general merchandise.

HOG is ranked 3^rd in the June 2015 edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks article series. The company has a 5-year streak of consecutive dividend increases and pays quarterly dividends of 31¢ per share in the months of March, June, September and December.

9 Dividend Increases, June 1-12, 2015

Includes: AWH • CAT • CB • CBRL • CL • FLO • GRMN • NFG • TGT

Summary

• In the past 2 weeks, 9 companies on my watch list of dividend growth stocks announced dividend increases.
• I monitor dividend increases for stocks in my portfolio to make yield on cost adjustments and to track projected annual dividend income. 
• Regular dividend increases indicate an expectation of future earnings growth. I use this process to identify candidates for further analysis.

Recent Buy: Reliance Steel & Aluminum

Jun 12, 2015: Bought 40 shares of RS at $63.98 per share.

Founded in 1939 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE:RS) is one of the largest metals service center companies in the United States. The company provides metals processing services and distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium and specialty steel products, to customers in a broad range of industries. 

RS is the Materials sector winner and is ranked 2^nd in the June 2015 edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks article series. The company has a 5-year streak of consecutive dividend increases and pays quarterly dividends of 40¢ per share in the months of March, June, September and December. What impresses me most is the company's 5-yr dividend growth rate of 28.5%!

10 Dividend Growth Stocks for June 2015

Includes: ADM • CAH • GLW • GPS • HCI • HOG • NEE • NOV • MIC • QCOM • RS • TESS • UNP • VZ

Once a month, I rank a selection of David Fish's CCC stocks to identify top candidates for further analysis. The list of CCC stocks is updated monthly and contains all U.S.-listed stocks that have paid increasing dividends for at least 5 consecutive years.

The CCC list is divided into three categories based on the number of consecutive years of increases: Dividend Champions (25 or more years), Dividend Contenders (10-24 years), and Dividend Challengers (5-9 years). The latest list (dated 5/29/15) contains 722, with 105 Champions, 251 Contenders, and 366 Challengers.

I apply a series of filters to reduce the number of stocks to a more manageable number. The filters are designed to remove unlikely candidates from consideration. They are based on things like yield, growth rate, P/E and PEG ratio, and dividend increase history. I'm careful to retain a minimum number of stocks for each of the 10 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) sectors.

Monthly Review: May 2015

Time again to review the past month's activities relating to DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. With work becoming more demanding, I'm finding less time to explore new ideas with DivGro.

I've been studying REITs (real estate investment trusts) in order to develop more appropriate selection criteria – and I just haven't found the time to conclude that research. In the next few months, I'm hoping to fine-tune my selection criteria and the way I evaluate stocks. I feel this is necessary, as DivGro now contains 45 stocks and my focus will soon shift to adding more to existing holdings, rather than adding more holdings.

11 Dividend Increases, May 18-29, 2015

Includes: ACE • BG • DCI • EXR • HPQ • JPM • LOW • NOC • STAG • TIF • WMB

Summary

• I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list to make yield on cost adjustments for stocks I own and to identify dividend growth candidates for further analysis.
• Companies that regularly increase their dividends show confidence in future earnings growth potential.
• In the past 2 weeks, 11 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases.