Options Update: February 2017

I report on my options trading activity monthly, usually after options expiration Friday. Doing so allows me to report on expired or assigned options. I also report new options trades and provide a running tally of DivGro's options income to date.

Options trading is a sideline activity for DivGro. My goal is to boost dividend income with options income. I mainly sell covered calls, which is a way of leveraging my existing portfolio to generate more income. Occasionally, though, I'll sell put contracts and so set the price I'm willing to pay for stocks I want to buy.

10 Dividend Increases: February 27-March 3, 2017

Companies that regularly increase dividends 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.

This week, 10 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I own.

28 Dividend Increases: February 20-24, 2017 (Part 2: The Remaining Sectors)

Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in their future earnings growth potential.

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list helps me identify candidates for further analysis.

This week, 28 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I own.

28 Dividend Increases: February 20-24, 2017 (Part 1: Financials, REITs, and Utilities)

Companies that regularly raise their dividend payments 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.

This week, 28 companies on my watch list declared dividend increases, including one of the stocks I hold in my portfolio.

22 Dividend Increases: February 13-17, 2017

Companies can only increase their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently.

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list helps me identify candidates for further analysis.

Recently, 22 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends, including 3 of the stocks I hold in my portfolio.

Monthly Review of DivGro: January 2017

In January I celebrated DivGro's fourth anniversary. The journey has been (and still is!) exhilarating and I look forward to seeing where the next four years will take me. Coincidently, in December 2016 DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) crossed the $12,000 mark, which means I can expect dividend income of at least $1,000 per month, on average, in perpetuity.

I've finalized the transfer of our trust account from Scottrade to Interactive Brokers where commission rates are more favorable for options trading. I still need to transfer stocks from one of my FolioInvesting accounts to Interactive Brokers so I can execute options trades on those stocks as well. Speaking of options, in January I secured $727 in options income. Recall that I tally secured options income, which is income received from closed options trades. Please see my latest options update for details.

Recent Sell: PennantPark Investment

I bought 215 shares of PennantPark Investment Corp (PNNT) in September 2013 when I was a rookie dividend growth investor. One can easily argue that I made the classic mistake of chasing yield. The company paid dividends of 28¢ per quarter, so my initial yield on cost (YoC) was a whopping 9.63%. Unfortunately, PNNT froze its dividend right when I bought those shares. Rather than sell the shares, I argued that I could afford to take on more risk for such a high yield.

Not long after buying those shares, PNNT's stock took a nosedive all the way down to $4.65:

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For February 2017

I rank a selection of the CCC dividend growth stocks and present the top 10 ranked stocks as candidates for further research.

For February's selection, I start with the top dividend growth stocks held by DGI bloggers and rank those that also appear on the CCC list.

Only one stock earns a 7-star rating this month, while the other nine are all rated 6-stars. I consider stocks rated 5-stars or better worthy of further analysis.

19 Dividend Increases: February 6-10, 2017

Companies can only raise their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently.

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list helps me identify candidates for further analysis.

This past week, 19 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including three of the stocks I own.

Options Update: January 2017

Every month, I compile an update of options trading activity shortly after options expiration Friday. Doing so allows me to report any options that expired or got assigned. I also report new options trades and provide a running tally of options income to date.

My foray into options is to boost dividend income with options income. I do so by leveraging the dividend growth stocks I own. While my focus will remain on dividend growth investing, options trading provides an interesting and potentially lucrative sideline activity. In about eight months of trading, I've secured about $2,500 in options income!

19 Dividend Increases: January 30-February 3, 2017

Companies that regularly raise dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.

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.

This past week, 19 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I own.

Annual Review, 2016

Welcome to my fourth annual review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks!

Keeping track of DivGro in a public forum helps me to learn and grow as a dividend growth investor. I learn from the research I do while writing articles, but also from interacting with like-minded investors.

In my 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.

DivGro Pulse: January 2017

With lots of new year hustling related to DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks, I'm a little late with my monthly pulse article in which I monitor DivGro's health.

Pulse articles are strategy focused and help me to identify undervalued stocks suitable for further investment. Additionally, if stocks in my portfolio perform poorly, they could be candidates for the chopping block. I use various charts to visualize recent performance.

To prepare for pulse articles, I update the fair value estimates for every stock in my portfolio. This is a process that takes several hours to complete, as I perform a multi-stage Dividend Discount Model analysis, a Gordon Growth Model analysis, and an analysis of dividend safety. My final fair value estimate also considers fair value estimates and price targets available elsewhere, such as those from Morningstar, finbox.io, and S&P Capital IQ.

31 Dividend Increases: January 23-27, 2017 (Part 2: Non-Financials)

Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks my watch list is one way to identify candidates for further analysis.

This week, 31 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends, including 3 of my DivGro holdings.

Part 1 of this article reported on nine Financials sector stocks and three MLPs that announced dividend increases last week. Part 2 reports on 19 companies in sectors other than the Financials sector.

31 Dividend Increases: January 23-27, 2017 (Part 1: Financials and MLPs)

Companies can only increase their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently. One way to identify dividend growth stocks for further analysis is to monitor dividend increases.

This past week, 31 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends.

Part one of this article reports on nine Financials sector stocks and three MLPs that announced dividend increases last week.

Recent Transfer: Microsoft Corporation

Founded in 1975 and based in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) develops, licenses and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company’s products include operating systems, server applications, productivity applications and business solutions, desktop and server management tools, software development tools, video games, and online advertising. MSFT also designs, manufactures, and sells hardware, including gaming consoles and PC hardware products.

MSFT is a Dividend Contender with a streak of 15 years of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in March, June, September, and December. The current dividend is 39¢ per share, so MSFT yields 2.49% at the recent share price of $62.74.

MSFT has an impressive DGR (dividend growth rate). The stock's 10-year DGR is 14.8%, while its 5-year, 3-year, and 1-year DGR's are 16.7%, 14.9%, and 14%, respectively.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks for January 2017

Every month, I rank a selection of David Fish's CCC dividend growth stocks and present the top 10 ranked stocks as candidates for further research.

This article reveals the top 10 ranked stocks for January.

A year after resuming the monthly 10 Dividend Growth Stock series, I look back to see how the year-ago selection performed.

14 Dividend Increases: January 16-20, 2017

Companies that regularly increase dividends 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.

Last week, fourteen companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I own in my portfolio.

Quarterly Review, Q4-2016

Welcome to my 16th quarterly review of DivGro, concluding four years of dividend growth investing and blogging! My quarterly reports summarize the actions I've taken during the preceding quarter. Quarterly reports include summaries of dividends received and changes that impact dividend income.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, I continued preparing DivGro for options trading. I reduced the number of stocks in my portfolio from a high of 66 stocks at the end of June 2016 to "only" 46 stocks at present. I used the cash from closing those positions to round out the number of shares of other positions to 100 shares or multiples thereof, ready for options trading.

Q4-2016 is my first quarter of serious options trading. I executed now fewer than 27 options trades (compared with 16 trades in Q3-2016 and 2 trades in Q2-2016). Option income totaled $4,485 in Q4-2016 (and $7,708 in 2016).

5 Dividend Increases: January 9-13, 2017

Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch is one way to identify candidates for further analysis.

Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.

This week, five companies on my watch list declared dividend increases, including one of the stocks I hold in my portfolio.

Recent Transfer: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc

Based in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT) is the world's largest retailer and private employer, with over two million employees. The company is a multinational retailer consisting of more than 11,500 stores under 63 banners in 28 countries. WMT was founded in 1945.

WMT is a Dividend Champion with an impressive streak of 43 years of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends in January, April, July, and October. The current dividend is 50¢ per share, so WMT yields 2.98% at the recent share price of $67.13.

WMT's dividend growth is slowing. The stock's 10-year dividend growth rate is solid at 11.8%, but its 5-year, 3-year, and 1-year dividend growth rates tell a sorry tale: 7.3%, 3.3%, and 2.1%, respectively.

More Consolidation

Last year I decided to consolidate several portfolios into DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. My goal was to manage all holdings as if they were part of a single portfolio. I did not actually transfer stocks between accounts and brokerages. Instead, I just added a column to my portfolio tracking spreadsheet to identify the host account.

If you visit my Portfolio page, you'll see a composite view of several accounts (though its is not apparent!). In fact, some stocks are even split across different brokerages. For example, I own shares of Target Corporation (TGT) in a so-called JTWROS account at FolioInvesting and in a trust account at Scottrade.

Having a single view of my DivGro portfolio regardless of the account or brokerage that hosts the individual stocks, simplifies things for me. I don't have to update (or manage) multiple portfolios.

Monthly Review: December 2016

The last month of 2016 was quite busy for DivGro. I closed three positions and used some of the cash to buy additional shares in existing positions. In some cases, these buys allowed me to execute additional covered call trades and to collect premium income. Regular readers would know that I started trading options in 2016 to boost DivGro's dividend income.

In December, I added another $2,034 in options premiums. Each option sold represents a potential obligation until it expires or gets exercised. I label options income as secured income only when I no longer have the obligation. Please read my December 2016 options update for details.

December was a record setting month for dividend income. I collected $1,407 in dividends, an increase of 83% over December 2015's dividend income of $770. I just love quarter-ending months!

DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) increased to $12,376, well above my goal of $12,000. The significance of $12k is that I can expect dividend income of at least $1,000 per month, on average, in perpetuity. (That's just a cool word meaning indefinitely or forever... and, of course, I'm assuming my portfolio stays the same and no companies cut their dividends).

Top Holdings of Dividend Growth Bloggers, 2017 Edition

This article presents the top dividend growth stocks held by established dividend growth bloggers with public portfolios. An analysis of stocks in these portfolios reveals Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) to be the most popular holding. I rank stocks by appearance frequency and by proportional weight, taking the relative size of each holding into account. Readers that manage their own dividend growth portfolios may find it interesting to compare their portfolios to the Top Holdings of Dividend Growth Bloggers.

In January 2013, I joined a growing community of dividend growth (DG) bloggers when I created DivGro. As a rookie blogger, I learned a lot by reading other DG blogs and scouring them for good ideas. For me, the best learning came from reviewing the public portfolios of DG bloggers.

8 Dividend Increases: December 26, 2016-January 6, 2017

Summary

• Companies that regularly raise their dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.
• Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list helps me identify candidates for further analysis.
• Recently, 8 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases.