The Dividend Aristocrats Ranked By Quality Score

Dividend Aristocrats are S&P 500 stocks that have increased their dividend payouts for 25 consecutive years or more.

In this article, I use a slightly modified version of David Van Knapp's quality scoring system to rank all the Dividend Aristocrats. 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 love the simplicity of the quality scoring system and I believe it does a remarkable job of identifying high-quality stocks. It is quite stringent, so stocks scoring 20-25 points would be considered high-quality stocks by many investors.

Of the 57 Dividend Aristocrats, no fewer than 39 have quality scores in the 20-25 range, and only three stocks of the remaining stocks have quality scores below 15 points. These truly are high-quality stocks!

Dividend Increases: June 17-21, 2019

I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list in order to identify candidates for further analysis.

Companies can only increase their dividends regularly and sustainably if they grow earnings sufficiently.

This article summarizes dividend increases announced last week.
One of the stocks I own announced an 8% increase.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For June 2019

Many dividend growth investors rely on the CCC list for their research. Focusing on stocks trading on U.S. exchanges, the list contains nearly 900 stocks that have consistently increased their calendar year payouts for at least the past 5 years. This list and an accompanying spreadsheet providing key data are maintained by Justin Law.

With my monthly 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series, I rank a subset of CCC stocks and present the 10 top-ranked stocks for further research. My ranking system assigns letter grades to stocks relative to their performance among sector peers. Having a sector-oriented ranking system avoids the problems associated with ranking dissimilar stocks.

This month I decided to rank CCC stocks in the Communication Services sector.

Dividend Increases: June 10-14, 2019

Companies that increase their dividends regularly show confidence in their ability to grow earnings. I monitor dividend increases to find candidates for analysis and possible investment.

This article summarizes last week's dividend increases and includes a summary of upcoming ex-dividend dates. Two of my DivGro stocks will pay higher dividends from now on.

Dividend Increases: June 3-7, 2019

This article summarizes dividend increases from last week. I monitor dividend increases to find interesting stocks for further analysis.

The article includes a summary of upcoming ex-dividend dates for a two-week period.

One of my DivGro stocks announced an impressive 20% increase!

Options Update: May 2019

Welcome to another options update article!

I write monthly options update articles to summarize options trades and to keep track of my options income. Each update also serves as a status report on open options and the obligations I potentially have.

The stock market took a bit of a nosedive in May on trade war concerns and volatility is up, so selling options is a little more lucrative (albeit riskier).

After April's poor performance, I'm happy to report that May's trades have regained some ground with regards to my 2019 options income goal. While I'm not back on pace yet, things certainly look better!

Dividend Increases: May 27-31, 2019

Companies can only increase their dividends regularly and sustainably if they grow earnings sufficiently.

This article summarizes last week's dividend increase announcements and includes a summary of upcoming ex-dividend dates. One of my DivGro stocks will pay higher dividends from now on.

I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list to identify candidates for further analysis.

Monthly Review Of DivGro: May 2019

Welcome to another monthly review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. I present details of any buys or sells, and provide a summary of dividends collected. Additionally, I look at how the month's activities have impacted DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI).

In May, I opened four new positions and added shares to four existing positions. Additionally, I closed one position due to an options assignment and three DivGro stocks announced dividend increases.

The net result is that PADI increased by about 2.0% in May. Year over year, PADI increased by 25.9%.

As for dividend income, in May I received dividends totaling $1,656 from 19 stocks in my portfolio, a year over year increase of 32%. So far in 2019, I've collected $9,541 in dividends or about 38% of my 2019 goal of $25,200.