Recent Buys

Yesterday, I reported two recent sells.

I closed my positions in Nestlé SA (NSRGY) and Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), two positions I identified as weaker positions based on their Chowder Numbers [CDNs]. Both stocks have low current yields and their 5-year dividend growth rates [DGRs] just do not merit continued investment.

I used some of the proceeds to increase two of my current positions. These replacements are high-quality dividend growth [DG] stocks with favorable CDNs. This article details the new buys.

Recent Sells

I've adopted the DVK quality scoring system as the primary way to assess the quality of dividend growth [DG] stocks. I love the simplicity of the system, which does a remarkable job identifying high-quality stocks!

Another recent addition to my evaluation process is the use of the so-called Chowder Number [CDN], a popular metric that favors DG stocks likely to produce annualized returns of at least 8%.

I now regularly rank my DivGro stocks by quality score and by CDN. Following a recent ranking, I identified two weaker positions that I decided to eliminate. This article provides details.

Dividend Increases: January 18-24, 2020

I monitor dividend increase announcements for stocks in the Dividend Champions List [CCC list].

The CCC list is separated into three categories based on how long companies have maintained their streak of annually increasing dividends: Champions (25+ years), Contenders (10- 24 years), and Challengers (5-9 years).

In the past week, 32 companies in the CCC list announced dividend increases, including five of the stocks I hold in my portfolio. Five of the dividend increases are double-digit percentage increases!

Dividend Increases: January 1-17, 2020

I monitor dividend increase announcements for stocks in the Dividend Champions List [CCC list].

The CCC list is separated into three categories based on how long companies have maintained their streak of annually increasing dividends: Champions (25+ years), Contenders (10- 24 years), and Challengers (5-9 years).

In the past three weeks, 17 companies in the CCC list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I hold in my portfolio. Two of these dividend increases are double-digit percentage increases!

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For January 2020

The Dividend Champions [CCC] list contains nearly 900 dividend growth [DG] 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 to assess the quality of DG stocks.

This month I decided to rank quality CCC stocks with qualifying Chowder Numbers [CDNs] trading at discounted valuations.

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!