Recent Buy: MDP

Mar 14, 2014: Bought 55 shares of MDP at $45.18 per share.

Founded in 1902 and headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, Meredith Corporation (MDP) is one of the leading media and marketing companies in the U.S. with interests in publishing, broadcasting, integrated marketing and interactive media. The company operates in two business segments: National Media and Local Media.

MDP is a Dividend Contender with a 21-year streak of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in March, June, September and December. The current dividend is 43.25¢ per share, so my starting yield on cost is 3.83%.

Dividend Increases, March 1-15, 2014

I'm a little behind on my posts, as things have been heating up at work. For the most part, I'll be posting only on weekends. Even weekends will become busy, as I'll have to focus my attention to doing our taxes soon...

Twice a month, I compile a table recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list. My main motivation is to keep track of dividend increases for stocks I own in DivGro, in order to make yield on cost adjustments. For other stocks, monitoring dividend increases is a way to track the long-term health of dividend paying companies.

Recent Buy: APU

Mar 14, 2014: Bought 120 units of APU at $42.27 per unit.

AmeriGas Partners, L.P. (APU) is a publicly traded master limited partnership (MLP) and the largest U.S. retail propane distributor. It conducts business through its principal operating subsidiary AmeriGas Propane, L.P. Revenues come from five retail markets: residential, commercial/industrial, motor fuel, transport, and agriculture. APU also earns income from wholesale customers.

I require a premium yield of at least 6.75% when purchasing units in MLPs and limited liability companies (LLCs). The reason is that ownership requires special treatment at tax time, which I'm only prepared to do if I can earn a great yield. APU certainly offers a great yield – my starting yield on cost is an impressive 7.95%!

Bonus Deposit, March 2014

On Friday, March 14, I deposited $5,000 cash into my DivGro portfolio. This bonus deposit is in addition to my regularly scheduled deposits of $2,500 per month. As I did on a previous occasion, I transferred this money from one of my other portfolios.

The main reason for this bonus deposit was to boost available cash in DivGro, particularly so I could buy units in a master limited partnership (MLP). I prefer to allocate about $5,000 when buying units in MLPs, which is double the amount I usually spend on regular stock purchases. I'll report on the MLP purchase in my next post.

Recent Sell: SJR

Mar 14, 2014: Sold 105 shares of SJR at $23.20 per share.

Today I sold all shares of Shaw Communications Inc (SJR), the first time I've sold shares since I started DivGro. I have several criteria for selling shares, none of which applied to SJR. So, why then, did I sell SJR?

SJR is a monthly dividend payer with an 11-year streak of dividend increases. When I bought SJR in December last year, starting yield on cost was 4.3%. It has a solid 5-yr dividend growth of 12.24%.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks for March, 2014

This year, one of my goals is to increase the number of holdings in DivGro to 36, balanced across all 10 sectors in my watch list. To facilitate this change, I've changed the way I look for candidate stocks. I now look for the top performers by sector based on certain selection criteria.

I start with Dave Fish's CCC list and apply a series of filters to reduce the number of candidates to 30 stocks, 3 per sector. Then I score these stocks based on my selection criteria, assigning a star rating to each candidate out of a maximum of 7 stars.

Monthly Review: February 2014

This month was an exciting one for DivGro! I had a (surprisingly) popular post that received many more page views and comments than normal, propelling the total page views of this blog above the 30,000 mark. My blog is still young, but I sense some acceleration happening now!

In February, I reworked the Performance page to show an overview of DivGro's holdings and performance in a visually pleasing way. I wrote about the inspiration for the radial charts I created – a logo my dad designed many years ago for a real estate agency. This week, my brother took a photo of a billboard containing the logo. It is great to see the business is still operational, after 38 years!

Dividend Increases, February 16-28, 2014

With February behind us, I'd like to report on dividend increases announced for stocks in my watch list the past two weeks.

My mid-month post on dividend increases reported no less than 27 increases, ten of which were above 7%! In the present low-interest environment, this is a remarkable accomplishment and one of the main reasons why I find dividend growth investing so fascinating. The fact that I don't own a single share of any of the ten biggest increasers in DivGro is a matter that needs some attention...

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. 

Dividend Increases, February 1-15, 2014

Twice a month, I compile a table of recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list. I do this to monitor dividend increases for stocks I own in DivGro and to make yield on cost adjustments. For stocks I don't own, monitoring dividend increases is a good way to assess the long-term health of dividend paying companies.

Kilokor

When I was in school in South Africa, my parents, both educators, briefly forayed into the real estate business. I think it was to help a friend get back on his feet. My dad created an interesting logo for the business, based on his background as a geographer.

The logo has a circular core, with radial arms pointing out in different directions. My dad explains that he had based the logo on a map of the Witwatersrand, with Johannesburg at the core, and radial arms reaching out to the neighboring towns of Carltonville and Krugersdorp in the west to Springs and Nigel in the east.

Recent Buy: JNJ

Feb 3, 2014: Bought 30 shares of JNJ at $87.10 per share.

Founded in New Jersey in 1886, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has grown into one of the largest companies in the world. It employs 128,000 people across 275 operating companies. The company is a leader in the pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer products industries.

JNJ is a Dividend Champion with an impressive 51-year streak of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in March, June, September, and December. My starting Yield on Cost is 3.03%.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks for February, 2014

In shifting focus to balancing my portfolio holdings across all 10 sectors in my watch list, I've changed how I identify candidates for further analysis. I now look for the top performers by sector based on my selection criteria.

Using Dave Fish's CCC list, a spreadsheet providing financial data of companies with 5 or more consecutive years of dividend increases, I apply a series of filters to reduce the number of candidates to 30 stocks. I then score these stocks based on my selection criteria, assigning a star rating to each candidate out of a maximum of 7 stars.

Monthly Review: January 2014

I took some time off in January, celebrating our 28^th wedding anniversary on a Caribbean cruise. This was our first ever cruise together and we had a wonderful time! My favorite time was swimming in the crystal clear water of Trunk beach on the island of St John. My wife and I decided that we're not going to wait another 28 years before going on a cruise again. We hope to go to Alaska next.

Despite my vacation, I managed to write several posts in January, including reviews and the first of a new series of posts in which I'll be identifying 10 dividend growth candidates every month, one for each sector in my watch list.

Dividend Increases, January 16-31, 2014

Unbelievably, the first month of 2014 is over! Time again to report on recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list. And this month has been a busy one for dividend increase announcements.

I compile this information to monitor dividend increases for stocks I own in DivGro and so I can make yield on cost adjustments. For other stocks in my watch list, monitoring dividend increases is informative and one way to assess the long-term health of dividend paying companies.

Recent Buy: MO

Jan 31, 2014: Bought 75 shares of MO at $35.29 per share.

Altria Group Inc. (MO) was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. MO, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smokeless products, and wine. One wholly owned subsidiary (Phillip Morris Capital Corporation) maintains a portfolio of leveraged and direct finance leases. In March 2008, MO spun off the subsidiary Phillip Morris to protect it from litigation in the United States. Later, Phillip Morris became a separate entity called Philip Morris International, legally based in the U.S. and listed on the NYSE under the symbol PM.

MO is a Dividend Champion with an impressive 45-year streak of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in January, April, July, and October. My starting Yield on Cost is 5.44%.

Because I can!

This post in unlike any other that I've written for DivGro. It will not share any new insights into dividend growth investing, nor provide an update of my dividend growth portfolio. It won't be all that long, either. And you'll understand why, in a moment. 

I'm writing this post on the balcony of our mini suite on the Norwegian Epic. My wife and I are on a Caribbean cruise. It is our first ever cruise as a married couple and we're doing it in celebration of our 28th anniversary. So far, its been a wonderful experience – something I can highly recommend. And I'm really grateful for the opportunity to celebrate our anniversary in this way!

The cool thing about this cruise is that we're getting it for a bargain price. Cruises are expensive to operate and unsold cabins do not generate income. So last-minute discount deals are available, if you know where to find them. Last-minute is a bit of a misnomer – cut-rate promotions are typically available within 90 days of departure and is a great way to cruise for cost-conscious travelers with flexible schedules. 

This post's title is a tribute to our sons, who asked, indignantly: "Why would you want to post to your blog when you're on vacation?"

Dividend Increases, January 1-15, 2014

Mid-month and time again to report on recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list. I compile this information from a screening feature available to subscribers at Dividend.com. Monitoring dividend increases over time is one way to assess the long-term health of dividend paying companies. For stocks I own in DivGro, dividend increases imply that my yield on cost increases.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks for January, 2014

Two weeks into the new year and, so far, no new purchase for DivGro! I've been busy looking back, posting a monthly, quarterly and annual review and improving my Performance page. Now its time to look forward!

This year, I'm shifting focus to balancing my portfolio holdings across all 10 sectors in my watch list. Given DivGro's current sector distribution, I need to stay clear of candidates in Financials and Energy, in favor of candidates in the other sectors. If I stick to my plan of making a recurring monthly deposit of $2,500, I can expand DivGro's number of holdings from 24 to 36 (assuming I continue to buy stocks in $2,500 chunks).

First Anniversary!

One year ago, today, I introduced DivGro to the world. Of course, except for a few family members, nobody else was aware of the fact that yet another dividend growth blog had been launched! Over time, though, I've enjoyed increasing traffic to my blog and I hope that my readers have found some useful information here.

I know I've learned a tremendous amount over the past year. As I wrote in a previous milestones post, writing about one's investing decisions is an interesting thing: it not only requires discipline and perseverance, but also a willingness to be accountable. It certainly is an inspiring and invigorating process.

Annual Review, 2013

I created DivGro in January of 2013 to generate a reliable and growing dividend income stream. By keeping track of the portfolio in this blog and by interacting with like-minded investors, I've become a better dividend growth investor. I've learned a tremendous amount about dividend growth investing, how to value dividend stocks and, frankly, the benefits of blogging!

The purpose of this post is to review DivGro's performance in 2013. I'd like to do this by measuring DivGro's performance against the goals I've set for 2013 and by looking at the portfolio's overall performance (rate of return, dividend income, dividend growth, and yield on cost).

Quarterly Review, Q4-2013

My first DivGro post was on January 10, 2013, so just 8 more days before the first anniversary of this blog! It's been quite an adventure! I've learned a lot in the past year, yet I know there's a lot more to learn...

With the fourth quarter of DivGro behind us, its time again to look at the portfolio's performance.

During this past quarter, I've contributed capital funds in the amount of $24,500 to DivGro, including two bonus deposits of $10,000 each. Dividend income in Q4 totaled $586.74, up from $385.89 received in Q3. This is the third consecutive quarterly dividend increase for DivGro.

I purchased shares in nine new dividend growth stocks, adding $1,085.31 to DivGros's projected annual dividend income, which now totals $2,864.94.

Monthly Review: December 2013

Its that time of year when many people reflect on the past year and resolve to be different or to do better next year. As a newby blogger, I get to write my first triple review: this monthly review, followed by a quarterly and an annual review.

The month of December was a busy one for DivGro! I wrote eleven posts, the most of any month in 2013. The main reason is that I made another bonus deposit, which afforded the opportunity to buy 5 more stocks! In the process, I've managed to diversify my holdings in DivGro to several new sectors. DivGro's projected annual dividend income now stands at $2,865, a yield of 3.81% given DivGro's market value of $75,145.

Dividend Increases, December 16-31, 2013

Happy new year!

I have several posts lined-up for the new year, but first I want to report on recent dividend increases for stocks in my watch list. I compile this information from a screening feature available to subscribers at Dividend.com. Monitoring dividend increases over time is one way to assess the long-term health of dividend paying companies.