Options Update: July 2020

Welcome to July's Options Update! 

I write monthly articles to summarize my options trades and to keep track of DivGro's options income. By selling covered calls and put options, I receive options income that I use to buy more dividend growth stocks. This indirectly boosts DivGro's ability to generate dividend income!

While this month's options income did not come close to what I earned in June, nevertheless I'm satisfied with July's "takings". Unfortunately, I'm still in a deep hole and it is unlikely that I will achieve my 2020 goal of collecting at least $24,000 in options income.

Dividend Changes: July 18-24, 2020

I cover dividend increases and dividend cuts or suspensions in my weekly article series Dividend Changes. A summary table provides relevant data and key statistics of dividend increases.

I co-produce this article with James Marino Sr of Portfolio Insight, who helps with compiling the ex-dividend dates for the next two weeks.

In a  recent addition to this article series, we use added-value to highlight one of the stocks going ex-dividend in the next two weeks.

How I Replaced Lost Dividend Income With Options Income

This article first appeared on TalkMarkets on Tuesday, 28th July, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a challenging environment for dividend growth investors. More than 600 companies announced dividend cuts or suspensions during the second quarter of 2020, even companies with long histories of annual dividend increases.

My DivGro portfolio suffered several dividend cuts and suspensions. To date, I've experienced three cuts and three suspensions, reducing my projected annual dividend income by about $1,832. And another planned reduction will reduce my projected annual dividend income to about $1,959 by year's end.

My general approach to dividend cuts or suspensions is to close such positions. However, I've decided not to take any such action until perhaps in December, when I usually consider trades for tax-loss harvesting purposes. Instead, I've sold covered calls to replace most of the lost dividend income.

This article provides details.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For July 2020

In my monthly series of 10 Dividend Growth Stocks, I rank a selection of dividend growth stocks in Dividend Radar and present the 10 top-ranked stocks for consideration.

I rank stocks using DVK Quality Snapshots to obtain quality scores and break ties by considering additional metrics.

This month, I'm presenting stocks with 5-year dividend growth rates of at least 10% and 1-year trailing total returns of at least 16%.

Quarterly Review Of DivGro: Q2 2020

This is the 30^th quarterly review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks.

In quarterly reviews, I summarize the transactions executed in the past quarter and provide a summary of dividend income and dividend changes. Moreover, I include charts showing various portfolio statistics. The reviews are mostly informational and help to track progress over time.

My portfolio generated more than $7,090 of dividend income this quarter and I'm projecting dividend income of at least $7,950 per quarter going forward.

Expired Options (July 2020)

Last Friday was options expiration day. Following options expiration, I post an article summarizing all expirations and any actions I took. If relevant, I also present potential replacement trades for expired options.

I had several options that expired on Friday, 17 July. Most were out of the money, which means I didn't need to take protective actions to avoid assignment. There was one option, though, that was in the money. I decided to roll forward that option to avoid assignment.

As usual, I'll report on my other options trades in an upcoming article.

Dividend Changes: July 11-17, 2020

In my weekly article series Dividend Changes, I cover dividend increases and dividend cuts or suspensions. A summary table provides relevant data and key statistics of dividend increases.

I co-produce this article with James Marino Sr of Portfolio Insight, who helps with compiling the ex-dividend dates for the next two weeks.

In a  recent addition to this article series, we use added-value to highlight one of the stocks going ex-dividend in the next two weeks.

Summary Of Dividend Changes In Q2 2020

This article provides a summary of dividend changes in the second quarter of 2020 (Q2 2020).

I now co-produce a Dividend Changes series of articles on Seeking Alpha with James Marino Sr of Portfolio Insight.

We monitor dividend change announcements for stocks listed in Dividend Radar, a weekly auto-generated spreadsheet of stocks with dividend streaks of five years or more. Dividend Radar provides up-to-date fundamentals and added value data, including total trailing returns, a fair value indicator, and trailing dividend growth rates.

In preparing for this article, I excluded dividend increases of stocks not in the latest available Dividend Radar list (dated July 10, 2020). In Q2 2020, I covered dividend increases announced by 80 companies. Additionally, 15 companies announced dividend suspensions, and 34 companies decreased their dividend payment.

Options Update: June 2020

In 2016, I added options trading to my dividend growth investing arsenal. I sell covered calls and put options and use the options income so generated to buy more dividend growth stocks. This indirectly boosts DivGro's ability to generate dividend income!

Every month, I write and Options Update article to summarize my options trades and to keep track of DivGro's options income.

After a few quiet months, my options trading activity has picked up again, and I'm happy to report that in June I collected more than $4,000 in options income. While this helps a bit, I'm still in a deep hole and it remains highly unlikely that I will achieve my 2020 goal of collecting at least $24,000 in options income.

Dividend Changes: July 4-10, 2020

This weekly article series covers dividend changes, including dividend increases and dividend cuts or suspensions.

A summary table provides relevant data and key statistics of dividend increases.

We include a table of ex-dividend dates for the next two weeks and we highlight an interesting candidate.

We now monitor dividend change announcements for stocks listed in Dividend Radar, a weekly auto-generated spreadsheet of stocks with dividend streaks of five years or more. Dividend Radar provides up-to-date fundamentals and added value data, including total trailing returns, a fair value indicator, and trailing dividend growth rates.

Monthly Review Of DivGro: June 2020

Once a month, I review my portfolio of dividend growth [DG] stocks, DivGro. I present details of any buys or sells, and I 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 June, I opened one new position and added shares to eight existing positions. Five DivGro stocks announced dividend increases in June, but I also suffered a dividend cut. The net result of these changes is that PADI increased by about 6.0% in June. Year over year, PADI increased by about 27%.

As for dividend income, in June I received dividends totaling $4,000 from 46 stocks in my portfolio, a year over year increase of 13%. So far in 2020, I've collected $14,112 in dividends or about 52% of my 2020 goal of $27,000.

Dividend Changes: June 27-27, 2020

This article series provides a weekly summary of dividend changes, including dividend increases and dividend cuts or suspensions.

We include a summary table that provides relevant data and key statistics of dividend increases. We also include a table of ex-dividend dates for the next two weeks and highlight an interesting candidate for your consideration.

We now monitor dividend change announcements for stocks listed in Dividend Radar, a weekly auto-generated spreadsheet of stocks with dividend streaks of five years or more. Dividend Radar provides up-to-date fundamentals and added value data, including total trailing returns, a fair value indicator, and trailing dividend growth rates.

Spotlight on James Marino Jr of Portfolio Insight

I now use Dividend Radar as my main watchlist of dividend growth stocks. A weekly auto-generated spreadsheet of stocks with dividend streaks of five years or more, Dividend Radar provides up-to-date fundamentals and added value data, including total trailing returns, a fair value indicator, and trailing dividend growth rates.

I'm collaborating with James Marino Sr and James Marino Jr of Portfolio Insight to produce and maintain Dividend Radar, a free resource for dividend growth investors!

A few weeks ago, I published a spotlight article on James Marino Sr. In this article, I'm shining the spotlight on James Marino Jr. We both have backgrounds in computer programming but, as you will learn from the article, Jim Jr took a very different route than I did... and while I no longer write programs for a living, I enjoy chatting with Jim Jr about what he does for a living!

The Top-Ranked Dividend Growth Stocks In The Health Care Sector

Continuing with my new series of ranking dividend growth stocks in each of the GICS sectors, this article takes a look at the Health Care Sector. To rank dividend growth stocks, I sort them by decreasing quality scores as determined by DVK Quality Snapshots. Then I provide quality indicators, key metrics, and fair value estimates for the top-10 ranked dividend growth stocks in the Health Care sector.

This article series stems from a suggestion by a reader, who commented on an article I wrote that presented the three top-ranked dividend growth stocks in each of the GICS sectors. I previously covered the Industrials and Consumer Staples sectors.