Dividend Growth Portfolio Review: Sherwin Williams Is Out

The Dividend Growth Portfolio is a public “demonstration” portfolio to illustrate the practical application of principles that I use in dividend-growth investing. The portfolio contains real money and actual stock holdings. I publicly report on its results. That allows interested persons to see successes and mistakes, and to form judgments on whether the principles make sense and work in the real world. These articles let people comment on what they think about the principles, suggest improvements, and consider how my decision-making compares to what they would do.I advocate semi-annual formal Portfolio Reviews. The reason is to establish a disciplined schedule of examining the portfolio, thinking about each stock, and taking appropriate actions. Formal portfolio reviews, along with... more

4 Mid-Cap Oil & Gas Equities That Currently Yield Over 7%

After screening for small-cap oil & gas equities yielding over 7%, and because I find the basic materials sector so very interesting and fundamental to the global economy, I decided to continue digging and have now developed a complimenting mid-cap ($2-10 Billion market capitalization) list of four oil & gas companies that currently yield over 7%.While all four are oil & gas companies, they do engage in varying sub-industries, such as exploring, drilling, refining and pipeline distribution. Higher oil and/or gas prices tend to be a positive (and lower prices will be a negative…caveat emptor) for such sub-industries to varying degrees. The following is a list of 4 mid-cap oil & gas equities that currently yield over 7%, listed in alphabetical order. BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust... more

3 Dividend Paying International Integrated Oil Companies to Own Now

Stocks of large US integrated oil companies (XOM, CVX, OXY, HES) have enjoyed a nice run-up in the last 12 months and for good reason: The turmoil in the Middle-East has sent oil futures sky-rocketing past the $100 level and economies around the world are on the mend, leading to increased demand and higher prices for crude oil.Shares of Exxon Mobil have gone up 25% since April 2010, a substantial move for the world's largest publicly owned company. Similarly, shares of Chevron gained 32%, followed by Hess Corporation 25% and Occidental Petroleum 17% (see Table 1). Table 1- Descriptive Stats - Large US Integrated Oil Stocks Stocks Market Cap (in $ billions) 52-week Performance TTMP/E Ratio Div. Yield XOM $428.2 25.3% 13.9 ... more

10 Unknown Small Cap Stocks With Healthy Yields

Diversification is an important part of investing, and though many dividend growth investors diversify across industries and corporate structures, one area that is often overlooked is market cap. Most of the companies that we focus on are large cap, blue chip-type stocks, since they usually offer higher yields and more consistent dividend growth. But our diversification would not be complete if we did not include mid- and small cap stocks, especially if we are interested in capturing the amazing growth that a well-run, smaller company can provide. While it is generally thought that smaller companies need all their earnings retained in order to fuel growth, countless examples abound proving that this is not true. Just look at the growth of companies like Wal-Mart (WMT), which has grown... more

11 Consumer Companies Paying Substantial Dividends

Companies in the consumer goods sector provide the most fundamental and basic necessities to households. Fluctuations in economic conditions have minimal effect on the demand for their products. While the stock prices experience ups and downs, the demand for consumer necessities is inelastic, and expected to go up along with population increases. Here is a list of 11 companies in this industry, paying substantial dividends, and priced with reasonable P/E ratios. All of the following companies offered a minimum 3% dividend yield, and have a minimum market capitalization of $10 billion. Data was obtained from finviz. Avon Products, Inc. (AVP): New York-based Avon has a history that dates back to 1886. Avon is the world’s leading direct marketer of cosmetics, and has more than 5... more

5 Dividend Stocks You'll Wish You'd Have Bought Now

Many investors lose sight of the fact that the best gains are made by buying assets when they are out of favor. It's human nature to be attracted to "shiny objects". For investors that would be stocks that everyone is talking positively about, stocks that have been making money for their shareholders, stocks that make you feel good, etc. Assets move in and out of favor, and if you step away from the current market noise, it is easy to find and invest in stocks or asset classes that might be out of favor now and available at bargain prices for the long term. To give an example of how investments move in and out of favor, consider the price of gold and silver. I bought silver at about $4 an ounce and gold around $300 per ounce many years ago, when there was very little interest in these... more

4 Dividend Paying Bargain Buys With Significant Upside Potential

These 4 stocks have above industry average profit margins, above industry average returns on equity, they pay an annual dividend and have PEG ratios of less than 1. The PEG ratio is a broadly used indicator of a stock's prospective worth. It is preferred by numerous analysts over the price/earnings ratio because it also accounts for growth. Similar to the P/E ratio, a lower PEG means that the stock is more undervalued. Many financiers use 1 as the cut off point for PEG ratios. A PEG of 1 or less is believed to be favorable. These are bullish indicators regarding a stock's possible future performance. Nonetheless, this is only the first step in finding winners for your portfolio. Now that we have cut the wheat from the chaff, let’s take a closer look to distinguish the driving factors... more

9 Income Stocks With Positive Dividend Trends

When evaluating a dividend stock, one of the criteria I look for is a rising dividend stream over time. I prefer to invest in companies which have consistently raised dividends for at least ten years in a row. I also examine the dividend record using as much historical data as available. I specifically look for prior dividend cuts, a pattern of significant dividend increases as well as a history of significant distribution payments.Most importantly, I look for the trend in dividend payments to be higher each year. I have highlighted the following stocks, which have raised dividends for more than five years in a row and also announced distribution increases over the past week:Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) owns and manages energy transportation and storage assets. This MLP... more

Dividend Investors Rejoice! Or Not.

So when Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) announced its plan to offer its first dividend, you'd think investors would be popping the bubbly. Instead they sent shares down 4.4%. Of course, investors were expecting the announcement at the company's analyst day. Imagine how much it would have fallen had Amgen not announced a plan to share its cash with investors.... more

5 High-Yield Dividend Yield Stocks With Significant Insider Buying

If you are looking to increase your exposure to dividend paying stocks, this list might provide you with an interesting starting point for your own analysis.To compile this list we look for stocks with the following characteristics: Market cap between $300M to $2B Dividend yield above 3% Experienced significant insider buying over the last six months We considered insider buying to be significant when the amount of shares bought by these individuals, over the last six months, was greater than 0.5% of the floating shares. click for expanded images Given the attractive yields and insider interest for these stocks, which of these securities are most bullish about?1. Solar Capital Ltd. (SLRC): Diversified Investments Industry. Market cap of $888.40M. Dividend yield at 9.83%. Over the... more