DivGro's High and Low Performers in 2017

The year 2017 is just about over and I thought it would be a good time to review some of DivGro's highs and lows of the year.

My DivGro portfolio contains lots of winners! Of the 56 positions, 51 have positive total returns. The five losing positions are down an average of only 5.2%. The largest loss is from Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI), with total returns of -11%.

On the other hand, the portfolio is full of double-digit and triple-digit percentage winners. The biggest winner is General Dynamics (GD), with total returns of 220% or 46% annualized. The runner-up is Microsoft (MSFT), with total returns of 205% or 45% annualized. There are three other stocks with total returns above 100%.

Options Update: December 2017

Welcome to my last options update article for 2017!

I write monthly options update articles to keep track of options trades in my DivGro portfolio. Each options update serves as a status report on the open options and the obligations I have. I also report on new trades and provide a running tally of DivGro's options income to date.

While DivGro is focused on investing in dividend growth stocks, I added options trading to the mix in June 2016. My goal is to generate options income and to use the money I collect to buy more dividend growth stocks. I sell covered calls on dividend growth stocks I own or secured puts on stocks I'd like to own.

DivGro Pulse: December 2017

The year is almost over and this is the last edition of my monthly pulse article series for 2017!

In these pulse articles, I focus on strategy and monitor the health of my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. I update the fair value estimates for every stock my portfolio and use the information to identify undervalued stocks suitable for further investment.

To estimate fair value, I perform a multi-stage Dividend Discount Model analysis, a Gordon Growth Model analysis, and an analysis of dividend safety. My final fair value estimates also consider fair value estimates and price targets available elsewhere, such as those from Morningstar, finbox.io, Simply Safe Dividends, and S&P Capital IQ.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For December 2017

David Fish's CCC list contains dividend growth stocks that have paid higher dividends for five consecutive years. This list is updated every month and contains more than 800 stocks. An accompanying spreadsheet provides key statistics of the CCC stocks.

Ranking so many stocks would be a daunting task. To simplify things and to introduce some variation from month to month, I use different screens to trim the CCC list to a smaller selection of candidate stocks. I rank these candidates and present the top 10 ranked stocks in my monthly 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series.

This month screen favors a selection of CCC stocks with high Safety and Growth scores according to Simply Safe Dividends.

2 Dividend Increases: December 18-22, 2017

Companies can only raise their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently. One way to identify dividend growth stocks for further analysis is to monitor dividend increases.

Only 2 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases this week.

Neither of these increases was double-digit percentage increases.

Yowzah! (Again)

Yow'zah! : an exclamation indicating excitement, usually associated with the observation of an event or object that greatly exceeds the ordinary
      Urban Dictionary

On 16 December 2017, after blogging for about 1,800 days, I crossed the one million page view milestone! With this post, I'd like to celebrate this milestone and hopefully encourage other dividend growth investment (DGI) bloggers to keep going and to help this community go from strength to strength!

On 17 July 2016, the last time I wrote a milestones article on page views, I reported reaching 500,000 page views at a daily average of 389 page views. That was article #370. This one is #585 and I've averaged 555 page views since DivGro's inception.

12 Dividend Increases: December 11-15, 2017

Companies that regularly raise their dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings. Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list helps me identify candidates for further analysis.

In the past week, 12 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including two of the stocks I own. 

Four stocks announced double-digit percentage increases this time.

Monthly Review of DivGro: November 2017

Welcome to the November review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks! The goal of these monthly reviews is to share updates to my portfolio and to provide a summary of dividends collected. I also consider the impact on DivGro's projected annual dividend income.

In November I opened one new position and added shares to two existing positions. Additionally, I closed three positions, one due to an options assignment and two for tax harvesting.

Five of the stocks in my portfolio announced dividend increases in November, and one stock announced a dividend cut.

As for dividend income, in November I received dividends totaling $1,005 from 16 stocks in my portfolio, a year over year increase of 51%. So far in 2017, I've collected $14,283 in dividends or about 110% of my 2017 goal of $12,960.

Goals for 2018

Welcome to my goals post for 2018!

In this article, I'll do a quick review of my 2017 goals and present my goals for 2018.

I believe in setting stretching yet achievable goals. It is not useful to entertain goals that are impossible to achieve. On the other hand, goals that are easily achievable will not require special effort and probably won't give you a special sense of achievement.

Stretching goals demand extra effort and focus. They require commitment, patience, and constant monitoring. Sometimes, when progress is not sufficient, they require a course correction.

Options Update: November 2017

I write monthly options update articles to keep track of options trades in my DivGro portfolio. I sell covered calls on dividend growth stocks I own or secured puts on stocks I'd like to own.

Each update serves as a status report on the open options and the obligations I have. I also report on new trades and I provide a running tally of DivGro's options income to date.

While DivGro is focused on investing in dividend growth stocks, I added options trading to the mix in June 2016. My goal is to generate options income and to use the money I collect to buy more dividend growth stocks.

Through November 2017, I've collected options income totaling $20,263.

Recent Buy: SCHD

Earlier this year I opened a position in the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM), an exchange-traded fund (ETF). In my most popular Seeking Alpha article to date, I presented the top holdings of 27 Dividend ETFs. Of these ETFs, VYM impressed me the most, with exceptional ratings from three leading authorities on ETFs, a solid 2.79% yield, impressive 3-year returns of 39%, and a very reasonable expense ratio.

Last month, when I updated my Dividend ETF analysis and presented ratings on 32 Dividend ETFs, it was the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) that impressed the most.

24 Dividend Increases: December 4-8, 2017 (Part 2: Non-Financials)

Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings. I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks to identify candidates for further analysis.

Recently, 24 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends. Part 1 covered dividend increases from Financials and Real Estate sector stocks. Part 2 covers the non-Financials.

Four of the stocks I cover in Part 2 announced double-digit percentage increases.

24 Dividend Increases: December 4-8, 2017 (Part 1: Financials and REITs)

Companies can only increase their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently. I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks to identify candidates for further analysis.

• Last week, 24 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends. Part 1 covers the Financials and Real Estate sectors. Part 2 will cover the non-Financials.

None of the stocks I cover in Part 1 announced a double-digit percentage increases. However, it still is worth looking at the list to see if any candidates seems worth analyzing.

8 Dividend Increases: November 27-December 1, 2017

Companies that regularly raise their dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings. I monitor dividend increase announces to help me identify dividend growth stocks for further analysis.

In the past week, eight companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I own. 

Only one stock announced a double-digit percentage increase this time.

Recent Additions To Existing Positions

In November's DivGro Pulse article, I identified a few existing DivGro positions that I wanted to increase. The number one-ranked stock in my portfolio is CVS Health (CVS), which traded at a discount of 20% to my fair value estimate. CVS also is the top-ranked stock in November's 10 Dividend Growth Stocks to consider.

After closing my Pfizer (PFE) position and anticipating some tax-harvesting sells, I wanted to boost DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) a bit. So, in addition to adding shares to my existing CVS position, I also added shares to high-yielding Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI). It probably is a risky move, as OHI is now yielding nearly 10% and concerns about the impact of problems with one of its tenants linger. The REIT reported worse-than-expected third quarter earnings at the end of October which resulted in a steep drop in the share price.

Recent Sells To Harvest Tax Losses

Tax-loss harvesting is a strategy to offset capital gains and so limit your tax liability. Usually, it is done by intentionally selling a losing position to offset capital gains.

So far in 2017, I've earned about $8,600 in capital gains from stocks sold and an additional $8,400 in options income. More than half of these gains are short-term gains.

Having achieved my dividend income goals for 2017, I think it is wise to take some action and limit my tax liability. This article reports on two recent sells executed with tax-loss harvesting in mind.