DivGro is now DivGro 2.0!

DivGro moved to another platform and is now DivGro 2.0!

Please enjoy complimentary access to all the content on DivGro 2.0 until I formally launch it! You can sign up for free and join more than 1,100 existing members!

All content will be complimentary until the formal launch of DivGro 2.0. This includes my monthly newsletter and articles like
 How to Assess Dividend Quality and The Chowder Ruleand a live spreadsheet of my DivGro Portfolio.

Read more About DivGro 2.0 ...

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Dividend Increases, February 9-20, 2015

Includes: ADI • ALV • BPL • CCE • CMP • D • GPC • HAS • KMB • KO • LLL • NEE • NHI • NWE • OMI • SBSI • SCG • SRE  • STR • TROW
 • UPS • XEL • WMB • WMT


I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list because it is a convenient way to identify dividend growth candidates. Companies that regularly increase their dividends show confidence in future earnings growth potential.

Another reason I monitor dividend increases is that I track the yield on cost (YoC) of stocks in my DivGro portfolio. When dividends increase, I make YoC adjustments and update DivGro's projected annual dividend income, a measure of the income potential of the portfolio over the next 12 months.

In the past two weeks, 24 of the companies on my watch list announced dividend increases. Increases vary from 20% to as low as 1%. Please read this Seeking Alpha article for details.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Recent Buy: Helmerich & Payne


Feb 2, 2015: Bought 41 shares of HP at $62.31 per share.

Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, HP is an energy-oriented company engaged in contract drilling of oil and gas wells. The company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on February 3, 1940. The company's existing fleet includes 338 U.S. land rigs, 36 international land rigs and 9 offshore platform rigs.

HP is a Dividend Champion with a track record of 42 consecutive years of dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends of 69¢ per share in the months of March, June, September and December.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Monthly Review, January 2015

Every month, I review the past month's activities relating to DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. At the same time, I update my blog's Performance page, which provides a central place for reviewing DivGro's status and performance relative to the markets and to prior months.

At the end of January, DivGro's market value was $120,827. Projected monthly dividend income increased to $434 from $407 last month. The portfolio is delivering an average yield on cost (YoC) of 4.57%. I collected $332 in dividend income, representing an increase of 174% over last January's dividend income of $121.

Monday, February 16, 2015

10 Dividend Growth Stocks For February 2015

Includes: ALB • ARLP • BBL • BNS • CNP • GMLP • HP • JNJ • MSFT • PM • TAL • TGH • TUP • TU 

I maintain a watch list of dividend growth stocks organized by GICS sectors. The list contains all the stocks in my DivGro portfolio, as well as a subset of David Fish's CCC stocks. Currently, there are 323 stocks in the watch list.

Every month, I use a proprietary ranking system to rank up to 50 stocks in my watch list. An earlier article in this series explains how I select the stocks to rank. This month's rankings are based on data from the latest CCC list (1/30/15).

During the ranking process, I assign a star-rating to each stock (out of a maximum of 7 stars). This month, no stocks earned 7 stars and only two stocks earned 6 stars.

This article at Seeking Alpha presents my top 10 ranked dividend growth stocks for February. As a bonus, I reveal the GICS sector winners.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Recent Buy: Starwood Property Trust Inc.

Jan 16, 2015: Bought 110 shares of STWD at $23.61 per share.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Starwood Property Trust Inc (NYSE:STWD) is the largest commercial mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. The company is focused on originating, investing in, financing and managing commercial mortgage loans and other commercial real estate debt investments, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments.

STWD is the Financials sector winner and is ranked 8th in the January 2015 edition of my 10 Dividend Growth Stocks article series. The company has a six year streak of consecutive dividend increases. It pays quarterly dividends of 48¢ per share in the months of January, April, July and October.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Dividend Increases, February 2-6, 2015

Includes: AVA • CHD • DPS • LAZ • MDP • NP • NUS • PRE • UTX • WGL

In the past few weeks I've noticed a significant number of dividend increase announcements. One reason is that many companies announce dividend increases at the end of their fiscal year. Also, it seems like master limited partnerships (MLPs) announce new distributions around this time of year.

In a recent article, I present no fewer than 32 dividend and distribution increases for companies on my watch list. The increases vary from as high as 45% to as low as 0.75%. This article presents dividend increases announced during the week of February 2-6, 2015.

To see the list of 10 companies that announced dividend increases, please read this article at Seeking Alpha.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Dividend Increases, January 19-30, 2015

I'm a little behind on my posts and this one will contain some old news, but I wanted to push it out, nevertheless. I like being able to scan through a list of dividend increases to see if anything piques my interest. It didn't help that so many companies (no fewer than 32) on my watch list announced dividend increases in this period!

As regular readers know, I monitor dividend increases for stocks in my watch list because it is a convenient way to identify dividend growth candidates. Companies that increase dividends regularly show confidence in their future earnings growth potential. Another reason is that I track the yield on cost (YoC) of stocks in DivGro. When dividends increase, I make YoC adjustments and update DivGro's projected annual dividend income, a measure of the income potential of the portfolio over the next 12 months.

In the last two weeks of January, the following stocks in my watch list announced dividend increases. Only one of these, Energy Transfer Partners, LP (NYSE:ETP), is a DivGro holding.  The table is sorted by last column, %Incr., and dividends are annualized:

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Recent Buy: DIS

Jan 27, 2015: Bought 27 shares of DIS at $94.32 per share.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), more commonly known as Disney, is a diversified international family entertainment company based in Burbank, California. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, the company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. Today, Disney operates in five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media.

Disney pays dividends annually in the month of January and has a streak of 5 years of dividend increases. My initial yield on cost (YoC) is 1.22%.

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