Recent Buy: Valero Energy Corporation

May 20, 2016: Bought 32 shares of VLO at $55.84 per share.

Founded in 1955 and based in San Antonio, Texas, Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) is an independent petroleum refining and marketing company. The company's refineries produce conventional and premium gasoline, including gasoline meeting the specifications of the California Air Resources Board. VLO's ethanol segment produces ethanol and distillers grain.

VLO is a Dividend Challenger with a 6-year streak of dividend increases. The company pays quarterly dividends of 60¢ per share in the months of March, June, September and December. At the current share price of $55.28, the stock yields 4.34%.

11 Dividend Increases: May 16-20, 2016

Includes: CB • CLX • GNTX • GPI • JPM • KEY • MMC • MSA • NOC • RBCAA • SYBT 

Summary

• Companies that regularly raise their dividend payments show confidence in future earnings growth potential.
• I like monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks, because I consider such stocks to be candidates for further analysis.
• Recently, 11 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends, including 2 of my DivGro holdings.

Recent Buy: Apple Inc

May 3, 2016: Bought 26 shares of AAPL at $94.07 per share.
May 12, 2016: Bought 30 shares of AAPL at $90.20 per share.

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players. The company also sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content. AAPL was founded in 1977.

AAPL has a 5-year streak of consecutive dividend increases. The company pays quarterly dividends of 57¢ per share in the months of February, May, August and November.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks for May 2016

Includes: HFC • HOG • HRL • JLL • NKE • PII • PRU • TROW • VFC • VLO

Summary

• Every month I rank a selection of David Fish's CCC stocks to identify top candidates worthy of further analysis. 
• This month I decided to do a preliminary ranking of most of the CCC stocks using data provided in the CCC spreadsheet.
• After selecting 40 of the top-ranked stocks, I collected additional data from several online sources and ranked the stocks again using all available data. 
• This article reveals May's top 10 ranked stocks.

7 Dividend Increases: May 9-13, 2016

Includes: CTWS • FDS • LII • LYB • MSA • SCI • TEL 

Summary

• Companies can only raise their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently.
• One way to identify dividend growth stocks for further analysis is to monitor dividend increases.
• In the last week, 7 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases.

Monthly Review: April 2016

In April, I completed the consolidation of my portfolios of dividend paying stocks. DivGro now contains stocks and closed-end funds (CEFs) from 5 different accounts. I'll be managing DivGro as a single portfolio using the investment strategies developed when I started this blog.

This monthly review is the 40^th I've compiled since creating DivGro. I'm somewhat astonished to see the progress... DivGro's market value just crossed the $300k level and, more importantly, projected annual dividend income is approaching $12,000. When that target is reached, it means that the portfolio will be generating $1,000 per month of dividend income, on average, in perpetuity!

17 Dividend Increases: May 2-6, 2016

Includes: BPL • CAH • CPK • FNV • JCOM • MAN • MAR • MIC • NHC • PAG • PEP • SBRA • SBSI • SEP • TSCO • UFS

Summary

• Companies that regularly raise dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.
• I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks to identify candidates for further analysis.
• In the past week, 17 companies on my watch list declared dividend increases, including 1 of the stocks I own.

Recent Buy: Gap Inc

April 28, 2016: Bought 105 shares of GPS at $23.40 per share.

Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) is a global apparel retail company that offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products under the Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy brands, among others. The company operates in the specialty, outlet, online, and franchise channels. It has 375 franchise stores in 41 countries. GPS was founded in 1969, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

GPS has an 11-year streak of consecutive dividend increases. The company pays quarterly dividends of 23¢ per share in the months of January, April, July and October.

I already own 60 shares of GPS, acquired in March 2015 at a cost basis of $41.42 and a yield on cost (YoC) of 2.22%. The stock price has been trending lower since then, so I'm lowering my cost basis and increasing average YoC with this buy.

28 Dividend Increases: April 25-29, 2016 (Part 2: Non-Financials)

Includes: AAPL • AVY • GILD • GWW • IBM • JNJ • JNS • LM • POR • UGI • UTX • XLNX • XOM 

Summary

• Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in future earnings growth potential.
• Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch is one way to identify candidates for further analysis.
• In the last week, 28 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including 5 of the stocks I hold in my portfolio.
• I presented the Financials and a few MLPs that announced dividend increases in Part 1.
• This article presents the non-Financials that announced dividend increases in the last week.

28 Dividend Increases: April 25-29, 2016 (Part 1: Financials and MLPs)

Includes: AMP • APU • BBT • CFR • CMA • COLB • ETP • FFIN • IVZ • PFG • PFS • PSA • SXL • WBS • WFC • WTBA 

Summary

• Companies that regularly raise their dividend payments show confidence in future earnings growth potential.
• One way to identify dividend growth stocks for further analysis is to monitor dividend increases.
• This past week, 28 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends.
• In this article, I present the Financials and a few MLPs that announced dividend increases.
• A follow-up article will present the non-Financials that increased their dividends this past week.

Recent Transfer: Valero Energy Corporation

Founded in 1955 and based in San Antonio, Texas, Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) is an independent petroleum refining and marketing company. VLO's refineries produce conventional and premium gasoline, including gasoline meeting the specifications of the California Air Resources Board. VLO's ethanol segment produces ethanol and distillers grain.

This is the final position I'm transferring while consolidating my portfolios containing dividend paying stocks. In these posts I've been capturing past transactions and dividends received, along with giving reasons why I like the stocks. The most pleasing aspect of all is that DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) received a significant boost.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For April 2016

Includes: ACN • LAX • LOW • PII • PRU • TGT • TROW • TRV • VFC • VLO

Summary

• Every month, I rank a selection of David Fish's CCC stocks to identify top candidates worthy of further analysis. 
• Using several screens, my selection process trims the CCC list of more than 750 dividend growth stocks to a manageable number of candidates. 
• I rank these stocks using fundamental analysis and a multi-stage dividend discount model and assign a 7-star rating to each of the top ranked stocks. 
• This article reveals April's top 10.

11 Dividend Increases: April 18-22, 2016

Includes: AWK • HEP • HFWA • LAZ • PBCT • SO • SON • TLLP • TLP • TRV • WES 

Summary

• Companies can only increase their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently.
• Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch is one way to identify candidates for further analysis.
• Recently, 11 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including 1 of the stocks I hold in my portfolio.

Quarterly Review, Q1-2016

The past quarter has been a busy one for DivGro, with several buys and a continuation of the portfolio consolidation process I initiated last year. I completed the transfer of my Scottrade holdings to DivGro and I'm proceeding to do the same with two IRA accounts, one traditional and one ROTH. The process is nearly complete and should be finalized later this month.

Starting with this quarterly report, I'll be including performance charts for DivGro positions that are at least one year old, on average. So far, I've created these charts only for annual reviews. The reason I want to do them quarterly is so I can more closely monitor the performance of longer term holdings. If stocks do not perform acceptably, they should be replaced.

Recent Transfer: Raytheon Company

Established in 1922 as the American Appliance Company, today Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) is a leading U.S. military contractor, specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. The company provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, cyber security systems, and communications and intelligence systems. It also provides business and special mission aircraft. RTN is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

RTN is a Dividend Contender with a 12-year streak of dividend increases. The company pays quarterly dividends of 73.25¢ per share in the months of February, May, August and November. At the current share price of $126, the stock yields 2.32%.

7 Dividend Increases: April 11-15, 2016

Includes: COST • EPD • GEL • HCSG • IEX • ISCA • OHI 

Summary

• Companies that regularly raise their dividend payments show confidence in future earnings growth potential.
• I like monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks, because I consider such stocks to be candidates for further analysis.
• Recently, 7 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends, including 1 of the stocks I own.

Recent Transfer: Northrop Grumman Corporation

Founded in 1939 and based in Falls Church, Virginia, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is a leading global security company with both government and commercial customers. NOC provides systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems; cyber security; command, control, communications and computers intelligence; surveillance and reconnaissance; and logistics and modernization.

NOC is a Dividend Contender with a 12-year streak of dividend increases. The company pays quarterly dividends of 80¢ per share in the months of March, June, September and December. At the current share price of $200, the stock yields 1.60%.

Recent Transfer: Lockheed Martin Corporation

Founded in 1909 and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) is a global security and aerospace company engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems. The company also provides management, engineering, technical, scientific, logistics, and information services.

I'm busy consolidating several portfolios containing dividend paying stocks. This transfer adds a new position to DivGro, which now contains a total of 60 holdings. This article explains why I like LMT as a dividend growth stock.

7 Dividend Increases: March 28-April 8, 2016

Includes: CHCO • FUL • MOV • NDAQ • PG • SKT • TJX 

Summary

• Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in future earnings growth potential.
• I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks to identify candidates for further analysis.
• Recently, 7 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including 1 of the stocks I own.

Recent Transfer: Intel Corporation

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Intel makes motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors and other devices related to communications and computing. It is the world's largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue.

Before freezing its dividend in 2014, INTC had a streak of 9 consecutive years of dividend increases. The company resumed increasing its dividend in 2015.

Monthly Review: March 2016

March was a busy month for DivGro. Following the market's downturn in January and February, I doubled down on no fewer than 6 of my existing holdings, equating to about $15,000 of fresh capital deployed.

I'm busy consolidating several portfolios so I can manage my dividend paying stocks using the investment strategies developed for DivGro. I'm not actually moving stocks between accounts. Rather, I'm recording transaction history and updating dividend income and projected dividend income totals.

As always, I'm updating my Performance page with the most recent month's statistics.

Recent Buy: AbbVie Inc.

March 9, 2016: Bought 44 shares of ABBV at $56.16 per share.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) is a world-wide, research-based biopharmaceutical company that develops and markets products to treat conditions such as chronic autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn's disease; hepatitis C; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); endometriosis; thyroid disease; Parkinson's disease; complications associated with chronic kidney disease and cystic fibrosis, and other health conditions. ABBV was incorporated in 2012 and is based in North Chicago, Illinois.

ABBV spun off from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in January 2013, so the company does not yet have a long track record of paying and raising dividends. The company has top-notch financials, with a double-digit growth rate for each of the last 3 years. I expect significant dividend growth from ABBV in the next few years.

Recent Transfer: Reynolds American, Inc.

Reynolds American, Inc. (NYSE:RAI) is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, RAI manufactures and sells cigarettes and other tobacco products in the United States. The company also provides electronic cigarettes. It distributes its products primarily through direct wholesale deliveries from a local distribution center and public warehouses. RAI was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

RAI is a Dividend Contender with an 12-year streak of annual dividend increases. The company pays quarterly dividends of 42¢ per share in the months of January, April, July and October.

Recent Buy: AllianzGI Equity & Convertible Income Fund

April 1, 2016: Bought 59 shares of NIE at $18.09 per share.

AllianzGI Equity & Convertible Income Fund (NYSE:NIE), formerly AGIC Equity & Convertible Income Fund, is a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The fund's investment objective is to seek total return consisting of capital appreciation, current income and gains.

NIE is a closed-end fund (CEF) that distributes income quarterly. The current distribution rate is 8.36%. Earlier this year, I transferred 237 shares of NIE from my portfolio at Scottrade to DivGro. With this buy, I'm adding 59 shares for a total of 296 shares. 

Recent Transfer: Johnson & Johnson

Founded in 1886 and based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has grown into one of the largest companies in the world, employing 128,000 people across 275 operating companies. The company is a leader in the pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer products industries. The company distributes its products to the general public, retail outlets and distributors, wholesalers, hospitals and health care professionals.

JNJ is a Dividend Champion with an impressive 53-year streak of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in March, June, September, and December.