The Highest Quality Dividend Achievers

The Dividend Achievers are companies that have increased their annual regular cash dividend payments for at least each of the last ten consecutive calendar or fiscal years. A trademarked property of the Nasdaq, the Dividend Achievers are tracked under license by several exchange-traded funds, including Invesco's PFM. 

In this article, I present the highest quality Dividend Achievers based on Quality Snapshots, an eloquent system developed by David Van Knapp for assessing the quality of dividend growth stocks. The system employs five quality indicators from independent sources and assigns 0-5 quality points to each quality indicator for a maximum score of 25 quality points.

I decided to use a variation of the original Quality Snapshots system to find the highest quality DG stocks among the Dividend Achievers. The variation uses Value Line's Price Stability instead of Value Line's Safety Rank.

Why Texas Instruments Is A Buy For Dividend Growth Investors

I consider Texas Instruments (TXN) one of the best dividend growth stocks to own. 

The company pays a generous dividend yielding 2.76% at $164 per share and has a stellar track record of dividend growth and share buybacks. While I expect a lower dividend growth rate of 10-12% going forward, that rate still easily outpaces the current rate of inflation, especially when reinvesting dividends. 

Texas Instruments has a great management team focused on growing free cash flow as the primary driver of long-term value. The team is disciplined in allocating capital and is a top performer when measured by returns on invested capital. The company is well-positioned to benefit from a rapidly growing semiconductor industry, especially in the industrial and automotive markets in which the company leads with market share in analog and embedded systems.

Why I Added Comcast To My Dividend Growth Portfolio

It has been quite a while since I last wrote a stock analysis.

In the March edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series of articles on Seeking Alpha, two stocks that I did not own ranked in the top 10: Comcast (CMCSA) and Pfizer (PFE).

I previously own PFE but sold the stock in November 2017 when call options I had sold got exercised. Rather than reopen a position in PFE, I decided to build my cash reserves and look for other opportunities. PFE consistently ranked below #40 in my monthly pulse articles and received either 3 or 4 stars ratings.

But CMCSA looked interested, especially following a 21% increase in its quarterly dividend payment and a sudden drop in its share price after news came out of a possible offer to buy UK satellite television provider Sky.

I'm Adding CVS Health To My DivGro Portfolio

CVS Health Corporation (CVS) ranked third in the March edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series of articles on Seeking Alpha.

The stock is trading down more than 30% from an all-time high price of $113.45, recorded in July 2015. As a result, CVS is trading at a 5-year high yield.

In this article, I explain why I'm adding CVS to DivGro. The article provides a full stock analysis and includes some risk factors, too.

I'm Looking To Buy Dividend Champion Hormel Foods

Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) ranked second in the March edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series of articles on Seeking Alpha. In fact, the stock has made the top ten list six times in the past year.

The last time I looked at HRL, the stock was trading at $38.46 per share and yielding 1.51%. At the time, my fair value estimate was $34 per share, so I decided to stay on the sidelines and wait for a more favorable entry point.

Stock Analysis: The Boeing Company

Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, The Boeing Company (BA) is an aerospace firm that designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and launch systems and services worldwide. The company employs approximately 160,000 people in the United States and more than 65 countries. BA is organized into two business units: Commercial Airplanes and Defense, Space, and Security. These units are supported by Boeing Capital Corporation, Shared Services, and Boeing Engineering, Operations and Technology.

Boosting Ford's Performance with Options

Founded in 1903 and based in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford Motor Company (F) manufactures and distributes automobiles worldwide. The company has 67 plants across the world and offers vehicles under the Ford and Lincoln brand names. Ford sells its products through distributors and dealers, as well as through dealerships to fleet customers. The company provides vehicle financing products through a wholly owned subsidiary, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC.

I own 600 shares of Ford at an average cost basis of $12.94 per share. As a dividend growth investor, I like Ford for its relatively high yield. I also like the stock because it allows me to boost that yield with covered calls. Ford is a popular stock for options trading – in August, the average daily volume of Ford options totaled nearly 7,200 contracts, about 4,500 of which were call contracts.

Stock Analysis: Hormel Foods Corporation

Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded food and meat products. The company sells its products through sales personnel, as well as through independent brokers and distributors. Customers include retailers, hospitals, nursing homes and marketers of nutritional products. HRL was founded in 1891 and is based in Austin, Minnesota.

HRL was the top ranked stock in the August edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series of articles on Seeking Alpha. The stock made the list again in the September edition, this time in second place. The stock is a Dividend Champion with a track record of 50 consecutive years of dividend increases and a 10-year dividend growth rate of 14.4%. HRL pays quarterly dividends of 14.5¢ per share in the months of February, May, August, and November.

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.

Stock Analysis: Lowe's Companies

Dividend Champion Lowes Companies (NYSE:LOW) is a home improvement retailer. The company offers a complete line of products for maintenance, repair, remodeling, and home decorating. LOW also offers installation services through independent contractors in various product categories; extended protection plans; and in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services. The company was founded in 1946 and is based in Mooresville, North Carolina.

LOW is ranked 7^th in the May 2015 edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks article series. The company has an impressive 52-year streak of consecutive dividend increases and pays quarterly dividends of 23¢ per share in the months of February, May, August and November.

Stock Analysis: Archer Daniels Midland

This article originally appeared on The DIV-Net on 6 May 2015.

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Dividend Champion Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) is engaged in the processing of oilseeds, corn, wheat, cocoa, and other agricultural commodities. The company manufactures protein meal, vegetable oil, corn sweeteners, flour, and other value-added food and feed ingredients, as well as biodiesel and ethanol.

ADM is the Consumer Staples sector winner and 7^th ranked stock in the April 2015 edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks article series. The company has an impressive 40-year streak of consecutive dividend increases and pays quarterly dividends of 28¢ per share in the months of March, June, September and December.

Stock Analysis: Exxon Mobil Corporation

Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) is the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company. Founded in 1882 and based in Irving, Texas, XOM is engaged in oil and natural gas exploration and production, petroleum products refining and marketing, chemicals manufacture, and other-energy related businesses. Approximately 83% of Exxon's earnings come from its operations outside the United States.

XOM is a Dividend Champion with 32 consecutive years of dividend increases. The company pays dividends of 69¢ per share in the months of March, June, September, and December. At the current share price of $95.11, XOM yields a respectable 2.9%. The five-year dividend growth rate is 9.68%.

From November 2004 through November 2014, XOM outperformed the S&P 500 by 14%, reaching an all-time high $104.76 on 29 July 2014. Since then, the stock price has dropped about 10%.

Please read the rest of this stock analysis and the conclusion I reach at Seeking Alpha. 

Stock Analysis: MAT

Founded in 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, CA., Mattel Inc. (MAT) is the world's largest manufacturer of toys and games. The company makes toys under the brands Mattel, American Girl, Barbie, Batman, Dora the Explorer, Fisher Price, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Sesame Street, View-Master, Winnie the Pooh, Yu-Gi-Oh, and many more. The company sells directly to retailers and wholesalers, and through agents and distributors in countries where it has no direct presence.

MAT is a Dividend Challenger with 5 consecutive years of dividend increases. The company's 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is 13.9%. It pays quarterly dividends of $0.38 per share in the months of March, June, September, and December. At the current price of $35.10, MAT yields an impressive 4.33%.

My New Watch List of Dividend Growth Stocks

Of all the pages on my blog, I tinker with my Watch List page most. The list contains tickers of candidate dividend growth stocks, organized by sector. It is a subset of Dave Fish's CCC stocks (Dividend Champions, Contenders, and Challengers), plus a small selection of non-CCC dividend paying stocks.

My goal with this post is to reconstruct my watch list by using a similar approach to the one I use every month to identify 10 candidate stocks. Additionally, I want to figure out what sector-balanced really means. I don't think it means having the same number of stocks in each sector.

More Popular Dividend Growth Stocks

In my previous post, I presented a portfolio containing 31 of the most popular dividend growth stocks, based on the holdings of 20 different dividend growth portfolios.

To compile the portfolio, I simply counted the number of appearances of each stock in all portfolios and sorted them by decreasing frequency. I arbitrarily made a cutoff at 7 appearances, resulting in a portfolio of 31 stocks. Collectively, the 20 portfolios hold 205 different stocks, which means that 174 stocks were cut.

One of my readers, Passive Income Pursuit, expressed interest in seeing the rest of the stocks. At first, I wondered if there would be value in sharing such a huge list. After all, the 174 stocks are less popular than those that made it into the portfolio of 31...

Popular Dividend Growth Stocks

The Internet hosts dozens of dividend growth investment blogs. You can easily find them using your favorite search engine. Another way to find them is to find one, like the very popular Dividend Mantra, and follow links from that site's blogroll. DivGro similarly hosts a small blogroll, which you can find just below my Blog Archive to the right.

Many of these blogs make their portfolio of holdings public. You can learn a lot by studying the portfolios and by reading posts announcing new buys (or sells). With a little work, it is possible to get an interesting, composite view of dividend growth investing from these portfolios. In this post, I'm sharing what I've learned from 20 different portfolios, listed at the bottom of this post. 

Stock Analysis: PG

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) is focused on providing branded consumer packaged goods in more than 180 countries. PG was incorporated in Ohio in 1905, having been built from a business founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. PG currently competes in 37 product categories and has five reportable segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric Care and Home Care, and Baby Care and Family Care.

PG is a Dividend Champion with a long track record of 56 consecutive years of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends of $0.60 per share in the months of February, May, August, and November. At the current price of $82.32, PG yields 2.92%.

PG has outperformed the S&P 500 over the past 10 years, returning 117% compared with 68% for the S&P 500. PG dividend growth rate over this period was 10.8%.

Stock Analysis: NSC

Based in Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) is a leading North American transportation provider. Its Norfolk Southern Railway Company is primarily engaged in the rail transportation of coal, automotive, and industrial products. 

NSC has a track record of 12 consecutive years of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends of $0.52 per share in the months of March, June, September, and December. At the current price of $75.50, NSC yields 2.75%.

Over the past 10 years, NSC has outperformed the S&P 500 handily, returning 394% compared with 74% for the S&P 500. NSC's dividend growth rate over this period was 22%. 

Stock Analysis: TGH

Textainer Group Holdings Ltd. (TGH) is a holding company engaged in the purchasing, management, leasing and resale of marine cargo containers. TGH leases containers to approximately 400 shipping lines and other customers and sells containers to more than 1,000 worldwide customers. 

TGH has a track record of 7 consecutive years of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends of $0.46 per share in the months of February, May, August, and November. At the current price of $34.11, TGH yields 5.39%.

Over the past 5 years, TGH has outperformed the S&P 500 handily, returning 128% compared with 21% for the S&P 500. The EPS growth rate over this time period is 19%, while the 5-year dividend growth rate is an impressive 52.14%. 

Stock Analysis: CHL

China Mobile Limited (CHL) is an investment holding company. The company and its subsidiaries provide mobile telecommunications services to more than 700 million customers in Mainland China and Hong Kong. These services include voice, data, applications, and information services.

CHL has a streak of 7 consecutive years of dividend increases. It pays dividends semi-annually in the months of May and September. CHL's annual dividend is listed at $2.18, which represents a dividend yield of 4.25% with CHL priced at $51.28 per share.

Over the past 10 years, CHL has outperformed the S&P 500 handily, returning about 469% compared to about 63% for the S&P 500 and 65% for the Dow Jones. Performance for the past 5 years is not so impressive. CHL actually lost about 17% over this period, though EPS growth topped 8% and dividend growth topped 14%.