Daily Dividend Investor Wishes You A Happy New Year 2012!

Daily Dividend Investor Update

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the blog over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks – most likely until the new year, but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

Thanks!

Neil

Daily Dividend Investor Wishes You  A Happy New Year 2012!

I wanted to take just a moment to look back over 2011 – what a great year for the Daily Dividend Investor. It’s been said that whatever you focus your attention on will grow and prosper and that has definitely been the case for the DDI portfolio and blog.

In just the last month alone the DDI portfolio has put over 40 paychecks into my bank account and is on track to finish the month with over $550 in passive income! That’s a 10% increase over my monthly income goal for 2011 and I’m excited to see the growth continue into 2012.

I hope you find value with each update of  the Daily Dividend Investor that I post. I’ve taken a slightly different approach to dividend investing and I’ll be sharing more about my process for building and growing the portfolio throughout the coming months.

There are many people who promote their list of stocks or a newsletter or some investing service – usually they will lure you in with stories of all the money you can make if you just buy their product before you get to see those “hidden gems” that they want you to invest in.

While there’s nothing wrong with selling newsletters or products – I’ve just chosen to take a different path. My goal is to be a transparent with you the reader, as I can by sharing the holdings of my portfolio – you don’t have to buy anything to see what I’ve put in my portfolio.

You’ll see all of the winners and the LOSERS that I’ve invested in.

I look forward to continuing to grow the DDI portfolio throughout 2012 and beyond. I have a lot planned for the Daily Dividend Investor blog – besides the normal Dividend increase updates, and the monthly portfolio reports I’m working on a video series where I show anyone how they can build a passive income stream from start to finish….stay tuned!

Thanks again for stopping by – Come back often or give us  “LIKE” on our Facebook page.

I hope that 2012 is the best year ever for you and yours!

Happy New Year 2012!

Weekly Dividend Increase Report for the Week of December 19, 2011

Daily Dividend Investor Update

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the blog over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks – most likely until the new year, but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

Thanks!

Neil

Dividend Increases for the week of  December 19, 2011

With the holidays upon us, this week was a fairly quiet one for dividend increases as we approach the end of the year. This week’s update includes 10 companies announcing dividend increases, with 2 notable increases of 150% over their previous payout!

The weekly wrap

For the investor looking for a safe “blue chip” holding, this week’s holiday gift was AT&T (ticker: T) which raised it’s annual dividend by $.04 to $1.76/share for a yield of 5.89%.

Considering that most CD and bank savings accounts are paying 1% or less – AT&T may offer a good alternative. In recent quarters there has been some concern that with AT&T’s landline revenues continuing to disappear, perhaps the AT&T dividend could be at risk – but with the increase this week, those fears have been put to rest, at least for the time being.

Dividend Growth

When investing for income, one of the most important factors to consider, besides the ongoing safety of the dividend payout, is to look for those companies that are continuing to grow their dividend stream. This week offers two potential opportunities for the investor looking to add dividend growth.

Village Supermarket (ticker: VLGEA) and Spreadtrum Communications (ticker: SPRD) which both raised their quarterly payout by a jaw dropping 150%. Village Supermarket now pays $1.00/share and yields 3.45% while Spreastrum Communications pays $.40/share with a new yield of 1.91%.

 As always, I have provided a link below to the Google document online spreadsheet with all of the details of this week’s announcements. I have also highlighted the two top two stocks with the highest dividend increase in green as well as highlighting the stock with the highest overall yield in yellow.

I should caution you as always, that because a stock is highlighted does not mean you should add it to a buy list, my intent is to simply point out those stocks with unique characteristics for your review.

One other notable name in this week’s roundup is Norwood Financial (ticker: NWFL).Norwood is now yielding 4.43% after it’s dividend increase to $1.20/share.  What caught my eye about Norwood was it’s 141 years of  successful business operations.

It’s no secret that I’ve added some riskier positions to the DDI portfolio, but I believe part of the “secret sauce” is continually finding niche companies that have remained profitable for long periods of time (50 years or longer ideally) that also offer ongoing dividend growth.

The DDI portfolio remains unchanged this week as none of the companies reporting a dividend increase are currently members of the portfolio.

For more detailed information about all of today’s dividend increases please refer to the chart below.

Investment Considerations

As always when evaluating investment opportunities it’s important to keep in mind not only the fundamentals of the stock itself, but also how the holding entity (Limited Partnership,Royalty Trust, Master Limited Partnership, Business Development Company, Preferred Stock) may affect the way you report income on your annual tax return as well as the amount or percentage of tax  you will be required to pay. Adding shares of any of these special entities to tax deferred / retirement accounts may also present additional issues.

Remember to review all of the fundamentals of any company BEFORE investing – do not simply buy a stock based on the dividend payout. If you have further questions about any stock mentioned her you should first consult with your CPA or tax planner / advisor before making any investments.

Time for some Christmas Shopping

Daily Dividend Investor Update

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks,  but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

Thanks!

Neil

Over the last few weeks I’ve done a bit of holiday shopping  for the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio. While I wouldn’t say that I scored any real bargains, I added a few new positions to the portfolio that should really help increase my income stream in 2012 and beyond.

As I add positions to the DDI portfolio I’m not afraid to put some money at risk, buying what may be a smaller, unproven or just less stable company in return for higher yield and the possibility of capital gains down the road.

I do like to try and keep things balanced – so for every riskier stock purchased I try to add what I often refer to as a “Steady Eddie” – those less interesting companies that just pay a consistent, albeit smaller, dividend quarter after quarter, year after year.

A quick overview of my recent purchases is shown below:

Weekly Dividend Increase Report for the Week of December 12, 2011

Daily Dividend Investor Update

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks, but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

Thanks!

Neil

Dividend Increases for the week of  December 12, 2011

With this update of stocks increasing their dividend, I’ve gone to a new and improved, weekly format.

I was finding that writing a report everyday for the stocks with dividend increases was a lot to keep up with. Often times there would be stocks with minimal increases, but nothing really meaningful to add about those increases or the companies behind them.

Since the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio isn’t about day trading, the information presented is just a valuable on a weekly basis as on a daily basis.

Actually, I think being able to scan the list of *all* the increases for the week is more valuable – allowing the reader to quickly process more possible investment ideas in a shorter amount of time.

I hope you enjoy the new format!

The weekly wrap

There were a total of 38 stocks that increased their dividend this week including 5 that already make up the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio. With the new format I have highlighted the top two stocks with the highest dividend increase in green as well as highlighting the two stocks with the highest overall yield in yellow.

I should caution you as always, that because a stock is highlighted does not mean you should add it to a buy list, my intent is to simply point out those stocks with unique characteristics for your review.

The stocks with dividend increases this week spanned a broad spectrum of industries from Hotels (Host Resorts – ticker: HST), Real Estate (Realty Income – ticker: O), Pharmaceuticals (Pfizer – ticker: PFE) to Utilities (Edison International – ticker: EIX) and Financial Services (Discover – ticker:DFS)

The DDI Portfolio Organic Growth

The Daily Dividend Investor portfolio saw increases in five of it’s current holdings:

• Edison International – ticker: EIX
• General Electric – ticker: GE
• Pfizer – ticker: PFE
• Nucor – ticker: NUE
• Realty Income – ticker: O

When choosing new additions for the DDI portfolio, dividend growth is one of the key factors I consider, so it’s good to see the holdings not just pay a dividend but increase it as well. The percentage increases ranged from .2% up to 13% across these five holdings.

Top Producers

This week’s top producers included two high-yielders in the 8-12% range. Dynex Capital (ticker: DX) with a new payout of $1.12/share yielding 11.2% and Atlantic Power (ticker: AT) paying $1.14/share and a yield of 8.46%. If you’re looking to diversify with a Canadian holding that also pays out monthly you may want to dig a little deeper with Atlantic Power.

While there may be some tax withholding implications for investors outside of Canada, the above average monthly payout makes Atlantic Power a compelling story.

For those looking more at total dividend growth over absolute return, we had two homeruns this week. Morningstar (ticker: MORN) had a 100% increase taking their annual dividend from $.20 to $.40/share. Agrium (ticker: AGU), although only a semi-annual payer, hit the grandslam with a 309% increase, taking it’s annual payout from $.11 to $.45/share. Unfortunately, even after these monster increases, both of these shares are still yielding well below 1%.

Special Notes

This week’s stock of special note is Franklin Resources (ticker: BEN). While Franklin did raise their dividend this week 8% to $1.08, they also announced a special dividend of $2/share which brings the annualized yield on this stock to just over 3%

For more detailed information about all of today’s dividend increases please refer to the chart below.

Investment Considerations

As always when evaluating investment opportunities it’s important to keep in mind not only the fundamentals of the stock itself, but also how the holding entity (Limited Partnership,Royalty Trust, Master Limited Partnership, Business Development Company, Preferred Stock) may affect the way you report income on your annual tax return as well as the amount or percentage of tax  you will be required to pay. Adding shares of any of these special entities to tax deferred / retirement accounts may also present additional issues.

Remember to review all of the fundamentals of any company BEFORE investing – do not simply buy a stock based on the dividend payout. If you have further questions about any stock mentioned her you should first consult with your CPA or tax planner / advisor before making any investments.

Top 5 Dividend Picks for 2012

PLEASE READ:

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content  for a few weeks, but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

Thanks!

Neil

Top 5 Dividend Picks for 2012

2011 is drawing to a close and it’s been a good year for the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio. My goal for the portfolio this year, was to grow it to the point where it would generate $500/month in passive income. Even though the DDI portfolio falls just a little short one month each quarter, it is producing well above $1500 in quarterly income!

I’m very pleased with that accomplishment.

I’ve already bumped the next goal to $600/month in income, however through some additional capital additions throughout 2012 I’m pushing to get the portfolio up to $1000/month.

As I look back on 2011 there a few stocks that are worth special mention and I wanted to share them with you. So in today’s post I’m going to highlight my 5 Top Dividend Stock Picks for 2012. A few of these stocks are already  owned by the DDI portfolio and others are stocks I’m looking to possibly add in the near future.

A word of caution as you work your way through the list. You shouldn’t just use this as a “buy list”, but rather as a starting point for developing new investment ideas that may help improve your portfolio. If your current portfolio has less than 10-15 holdings, these may not be the right stocks for you now – you may want to look to more large cap / blue chip, Dow components before adding some of the names I’ll be looking at here.

Monthly Income Update: November 2011

 

Daily Dividend Investor Update

 

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

 

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks,  but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

 

Thanks!

 

Neil

Monthly Income Update: November 2011

The DDI Portfolio does it again!

41 companies spread over a multitude of sectors including Oil Production, Real Estate, Consumer Staples, Pharmaceuticals and Telecom produced a total income for the DDI portfolio of $509.24 in Noevember.

With the exception of the passive income stream from the incoming dividends, the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio was fairly quiet in November – recording only one new purchase. Near the beginning of November I added 10 shares of Microsoft (ticker: MSFT) to the portfolio using the available cash on hand.

November News

November is the second month of the quarter which means I’ll be comparing it’s results to May and August looking back.

The good news for November is that once again the DDI portfolio exceeded the $500 mark in passive dividend income, marking the second straight quarter for month #2 to make it’s quota.

However, November was not strong enough to add on to the fantastic gains we had back in August when the DDI portfolio topped out at $527.18.

There were two holdings that negatively affected the results this month. Cal Maine Foods (ticker: CALM) has a floating dividend policy that is tied to the company’s quarterly results, as such this quarter was down slightly from the previous quarter.

Also, income from Sabine Royalty Trust (ticker: SBR) was lower this month due to the recent pull-back in oil prices at the beginning of Fall.

With signs of the economy strengthening, I expect both of these holdings to perform better in the months ahead.

Dividend Increases for Friday December 9, 2011

 

Daily Dividend Investor Update

 

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

 

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks,  but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

 

Thanks!

 

Neil

Dividend Increases for Friday December 9, 2011

Finishing off the week of December 9th, seven more companies announced dividend increases, plus we saw Ford Motor Company (ticker: F) re-instate it’s quarterly dividend after several years of rebuilding it’s balance sheet.

Of the seven companies, two in particular stand out as notable: National Health Investors (ticker: NHI) and WP Carey (ticker: WPC) since both of these companies are already members of the DDI portfolio. With these two dividend increases today, the DDI portfolio continues to grow it’s payout organically.

As we watch those companies that continue to raise their dividends, we realize that these are often the most conservative companies, with strong balance sheets. As such, these stocks don’t always offer the higher yields, although today’s group has a few options to consider that offer yields in the 5% range.

Today’s List of Dividend Increases

The yield spread on today group of dividend increases ranges from Ford Motor (ticker: F) at 1.8% with it’s newly announced dividend up through National Health Investors (ticker: NHI) yielding 5.94%.

The one other household name in today’s bunch, HR Block (ticker: HRB) the tax preparation folks, bumped it’s dividend by 33% to $.80 with a yield of 5.02%.

For more detailed information about all of today’s dividend increases please refer to the chart below.

Investment Considerations

As always when evaluating investment opportunities it’s important to keep in mind not only the fundamentals of the stock itself, but also how the holding entity (Limited Partnership,Royalty Trust, Master Limited Partnership, Business Development Company, Preferred Stock) may affect the way you report income on your annual tax return as well as the amount or percentage of tax  you will be required to pay. Adding shares of any of these special entities to tax deferred / retirement accounts may also present additional issues.

Remember to review all of the fundamentals of any company BEFORE investing – do not simply buy a stock based on the dividend payout. If you have further questions about any stock mentioned her you should first consult with your CPA or tax planner / advisor before making any investments.

Dividend Increases for Thursday December 8, 2011

Dividend Increases for Thursday December 8, 2011

It’s been a busy day with 7 companies announcing dividend increases as we approach the end of 2011. Today’s mix includes a variety of sectors including Real Estate, Insurance, Natural Gas Tranportation, as well as Appliance and Paint manufacturing.

While none of the yields on any of today’s companies even reach 4%, the percentage increases range from 7 to 25% showing signs that more and more companies are becoming comfortable enough with their financial footing that they can begin to make significant increases to their quarterly payouts.

Today’s List of Dividend Increases

Horace Mann Education (ticker: HMN) tops the list today with an 18% increase in the dividend and a new payout at 3.8% yield.

Also of note is Roper Industries (ticker: ROP) You may know Roper Industries from one of the many household appliances they manufacture and sell in the US.

While the yield on Roper’s stock is a measly .65%, they deserve recognition for increasing their dividend by a whopping 25%! This may be company to add to your due-diligence list – as often times, low yielding plays like Roper Industries may outperform over the long-term if they are able to continue such rapid increases in the dividend payout.

Other Dividend Increases

Other companies that increased their dividend today included the financial services firm Ameriprise Financial (ticker: AMP) with a new yield of 2.37%. Enbridge (ticker: EWB), Erie Indemnity (ticker: ERIE), Strker Corp (ticker: SYK) and Valspar (ticker: VAL) were also included in today’s increases.

For more detailed information about today’s dividend increases please refer to the chart below.

Investment Considerations

As always when evaluating investment opportunities it’s important to keep in mind not only the fundamentals of the stock itself, but also how the holding entity (Limited Partnership,Royalty Trust, Master Limited Partnership, Business Development Company, Preferred Stock) may affect the way you report income on your annual tax return as well as the amount or percentage of tax  you will be required to pay. Adding shares of any of these special entities to tax deferred / retirement accounts may also present additional issues.

Remember to review all of the fundamentals of any company BEFORE investing – do not simply buy a stock based on the dividend payout. If you have further questions about any stock mentioned her you should first consult with your CPA or tax planner / advisor before making any investments.

Things are Quiet like a mouse…

Daily Dividend Investor Update

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks,  but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

Thanks!

Neil

Things are Quiet like a mouse…

Things around the Daily Dividend Investor have been a bit quiet lately. Perhaps you’ve noticed that I’ve started migrating the site over to a hosted WordPress solution.

Thanks to Erica Douglass over at : www.erica.biz (one of my favorite blogs) – she recently hooked me up with great a 50% off all hosting plans disount at Hostgator (www.hostgator.com)! I signed up for their “Baby Plan” which lets me host unlimited sites for 2 years for $100! I figured I couldn’t beat the price and I’d heard really great things about their service so I went for it.

I’ve spent the last week or so working on bringing up a few sites including Daily Dividend Investor and I have to say that it’s been easier than I ever expected. Although I still have a lot to learn – I haven’t even begun to implement 10% of the tools they provide for building, maintaining and growing your own web site. If you’re in the market to setup a site – you should definitely check them out. I promise it won´t take you long to get up to speed and get your content published.

Hereś a great coupon code if you decide to use them – it will take 25% off your order!

Host Gator Coupon Code: discount25fb

Other musings…

While I’ve been focusing my time on the technical side of things, the DDI portfolio has been quietly churning away, building up cash, which as of today is just shy of $600, at $598 and change. I’ll be making my planned capital additions for November and December in the next few days which will bring the cash balance up closer to $3000 – priming the portfolio to add new positions when the time is right.

A positive market

Because the market has been moving upward over the last few days, I’m not in a big hurry to add to my positions. Several positions have recently announced dividend increases, so the portfolio continues to gain momentum even with no new asset purchases. As the European debt crisis continues to work towards a positive solution, it appears that the US Markets will likely continue this “melt-up” process we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks.

In the mean time as the broader U.S. Stock Market (Dow / Nasdaq / S&P 500)  rises, I’m spending some time looking for undervalued dividend stocks that I can deploy my cash into sooner rather than later. As bank savings and CD rates remain low and continue to trend lower, it’s becoming more and more difficult to find the quality dividend assets, but I’m still looking.

Focus!

As I refocus my efforts on finding those hidden dividend producing gems, I’ll be providing more daily updates of the stocks that have announced recent increases – I find it to be a great way to discover small to mid-size niche companies that have long track records of competent and conservative financial management.

Stay tuned for more….

Dividend Increases for Wednesday December 7, 2011

Dividend Increases for Wednesday December 7, 2011

Today’s dividend update includes four companies who increased their dividend. Most notable is the BDC (Business Development Corp.) that raised it’s dividend for the 3rd time in 3 months with today’s increase of over 11%!

As we’ve discussed before BDC’s are on the riskier side of the dividend income spectrum, however with an improving economy, they may be the perfect place to deploy some of your higher “risk” capital. 

The Steady Eddy

When we highlight the companies that have increased their dividends, most times they are not your household names – which isn’t always such a bad thing because many times these are companies who have found a niche and are *very* profitable in that niche.

When building the DDI portfolio I like to balance it out with smaller companies as well as larger more established blue chip names. Brystol Myers Squibb (ticker: BMY) is one of those names and today they rewarded their shareholders with a nice holiday bonus by increasing the dividend payout from $1.32/share to $1.36/share on an annual basis, which brings their yield to 4.05% based on today’s prices.

The Firecracker

As mentioned at the open, today we saw Solar Senior Corp (ticker: SUNS) a BDC, raise their monthly dividend 11.1% to $1.20/share annually.

 

This BDC has been raising their dividend fairly consistently since their initial dividend payment last June.

The current yield on this company is 7.44% – however, the shares have pulled back sharply from the $19 range last spring and are currently trading in the $15-16/range which is adding to the current yield. Because of the monthly payout and the potential for continued increases in the dividend, I will be doing more research as I consider adding SUNS to the DDI portfolio.

Other Dividend Increases

Wednesday’s other dividend increases came from Baytex Energy (ticker: BTE) which pays monthly and increased it’s dividend to $2.64/share annually. Hillenbrand (ticker: HI) also offered a small token dividend increase of $.01/share. Hillenbrand now pays $.77/share annually for a yield of just over 3.5%.

For more detailed information about today’s dividend increases please refer to the chart below.

Investment Considerations

As always when evaluating investment opportunities it’s important to keep in mind not only the fundamentals of the stock itself, but also how the holding entity (Limited Partnership,Royalty Trust, Master Limited Partnership, Business Development Company, Preferred Stock) may affect the way you report income on your annual tax return as well as the amount or percentage of tax  you will be required to pay. Adding shares of any of these special entities to tax deferred / retirement accounts may also present additional issues.

Remember to review all of the fundamentals of any company BEFORE investing – do not simply buy a stock based on the dividend payout. If you have further questions about any stock mentioned her you should first consult with your CPA or tax planner / advisor before making any investments.

Click on the chart above to download the google docs spreadsheet.