DivGro Pulse: March 2017

If you're wondering what happened to my DivGro Pulse article for February, the short answer is I never got around to writing one! Things were just too crazy at work with deadlines looming.

My preferred time to write the monthly pulse article is mid-month so you can see I'm already quite late with the March edition.

These pulse articles are strategy focused and help me to identify undervalued stocks suitable for further investment. Additionally, if any of the stocks in my portfolio perform poorly, I want to know about it so I can take appropriate action.

4 Dividend Increases: March 20-24, 2017

Companies that regularly increase 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.

The rate of dividend increases is slowing down. This week, only four companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends, including one of my DivGro holdings.

Back To The Future: Lessons Learned From 3 Dividend Growth Stocks I Bought On 09/09/09

I love movies about time travel and Back To The Future is one of my all time favorites.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I found myself back in the past with my present knowledge. Or, if I could travel into the future, what information would I look for to bring back to the present day?

In this article, I "travel" back to 09/09/09 when I bought 3 dividend growth stocks for my wife's IRA. I look at the performance of these stocks over 7.5 years of ownership and explain why I decided to keep them now that I'm managing my wife's IRA's as part of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks.

9 Dividend Increases: March 13-17, 2017

Companies that regularly increase 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.

This week, nine companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of my DivGro holdings.

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For March 2017

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

To introduce variation, I use different screens to trim the list of more than 800 stocks. This month I used screens favoring established dividend payers with positive earnings growth.

This month, four stocks earned 7-star ratings, while the remaining six stocks earned 6-star ratings. I consider stocks rated 5-stars or better worthy of further analysis.

9 Dividend Increases: March 6-10, 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 to identify candidates for further analysis.

Recently, nine companies on my watch list declared dividend increases. In this period, none of my DivGro's holdings announced dividend increases.

Monthly Review of DivGro: February 2017

February was one of those really busy months. With looming deadlines at work, I found it quite challenging to keep DivGro up to date. I have several articles in the works and I'll try to get them posted as soon as possible. Despite the "busyness", I managed to get a lot of DivGro business done!

First, I transferred my wife's traditional and Roth IRA's to FolioInvesting, where I'll be managing our IRA's using DivGro's strategy of dividend growth investing. The account transfers were easier than expected, though I had to spend some time to assess the account holdings. In the end, I retained only four positions and I'll be reporting on those in due course.

In February I received dividend income of $736, an increase of 57% over the amount received in February 2016. Additionally, I recognized past dividend income of $733 from my wife's traditional IRA, which I'm now managing as part of DivGro. Projected annual dividend income (PADI) increased to $12,728, a year over year increase of 47%.

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.