Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - February 2017 (Mid-Month)

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,359 stock analyses (and still growing). The collection essentially provides links to various stock analyses that we found throughout the dividend blog community since 2013. Last year we added a total of 445 stock analyses to the collection. If you would like to view archives from previous years, please follow the respective links provided at the end of this post. 

2017
This is the fifth year of since we began collecting various stock analyses throughout the DGI blogging community.  Even in our 5th year, we remain committed to keep this collection up to date.  At minimum, we promise to add new stock analyses on a weekly basis (if not more frequent).  To date, our 2017 Collection is already comprised of 67 stock analyses.

Admittedly, last year we foolishly thought that we could provide weekly updates to our Collection of Stock Analyses. Since that failed miserable, we believe this year we will stick to an update once or twice a month. Based on the stats for this Collection, as well as our update posts, we realize that these stock analyses have become a popular tool. Our goal is to keep it relevant and useful for our readers. 

Thank you everyone for making this resource a success! 

     

February 2017 (Update):

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses that were recently added to our 2017 Collection of Stock Analyses:

Bank of Montreal (BMO)

by Dividend Earner

Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO)

by Passive Income Pursuit

Coca Cola Company, The (KO)

by Dividend Growth Investor

Coca Cola Company, The (KO)

by Dividend TIME

Deere & Company (DE)

by Sure Dividend

Genesis Energy L.P. (GEL)

by Sure Dividend

Gilead Science (GIL)

by Sure Dividend

Gilead Sciences (GILD)

by Dividend Sensei

McDonalds Corporation (MCD)

by Dividend TIME

Pfrizer Inc (PFE)

by Dividend Growth Stocks

Target Corporation(TGT)

by Dividend Growth Stocks

Vectren Corp (VVC)

by Simply Safe Dividends

V.F. Corporation (VFC)

by Dividend TIME

Links provided directly in this post!

Please feel free to leave me a message if you prepared a stock analysis that I did not include in my post.  I would be more than happy to add your stock analysis to both this post and our collection of stock analyses.  Please make sure to confirm that it is a dividend paying stock and that it is a individual stock analysis.

  

My goal is to make this collection become the centralized source where one begins their research on a particular dividend stock company or at the very least, a source to confirm if a company stock is worth buying. Whether your a beginner or a veteran, I want this list to become an invaluable reference tool for you all. Best part, unlike other subscription based sites, I plan to keep this completely free for everyone to enjoy and benefit from.

Feel free to share with all of your friends and family! 

Click on Link Below

2017 - Collection of Stock Analyses

(Archived 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013)

Also don't forget to check out our:

2017 - Collection of Recent Buys

Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - FEB 2017

If you have viewed our family's Net Worth Page, you probably already know that it does not include the equity in our home.  Although, we do realize that it is technically part of our overall net worth, we decided that since our home equity is not an asset that we can count on for income (unless we sell and buy something cheaper) we would exclude it from our net worth calculation.

For the purpose of this blog, we are more interested in documenting our loan balance rather than our home equity.  With that said, we will use the current Zillow value as our estimated home value and use it to figure out the percentage we owe on our home. For those interested, we will include the amount of our home equity, but know that we are less concerned with the equity since we have no plans to cash out or otherwise sell our home. Our main goal is to pay off our home on or before my retirement date. 

HOME VALUE:

According to Zillow, our home is currently worth: $837,006 (up $9,699 in the last 30-days). Real estate typically cools down (literally) in the winter months so the spike we saw this past month was quite unexpected. We believe that that the high likelihood of a rate increases has triggered some urgency in those whom are in the market for a home and hoping to lock in a mortgage at current rates before they go up further. But honestly, we don't really study the real estate market since we don't see our home as an investment. To us, our home is just that, a place where we live and raise our kids. We do care if the area has great schools and that the neighborhood is not on the decline.  But since we have no intention of selling in the near future, we don't really care that our home value has been so volatile. 

It's fun to calculate and certainly makes you feel a little bit more wealthy but, if you follow us, the reality is that whether our home prices rise or fall, it really doesn't mean much to our family as we have no intentions to sell or otherwise move.  We are very lucky to be able to say that we love were we are and couldn't see ourselves living and/or raising our family any other place. :)

Mortgage Balance (As of February 1st):
$289,242 (down $1,903 from our post last month)

Percentage Owed:
34.5% (up .7% from our post last month)

Home Equity:
$547,764 (up $13,509 from our post last month)
   

Mortgage Background:
For those that have not read the Preface on our home equity, we currently hold a 15-year fixed rate mortgage at the incredibly low rate of 2.875%.  My goal is to retire within 10 years and 4 months (124 months) so we are setting out to pay off our mortgage on or before my retirement date. Right now we are a few months behind the target retirement date. Currently, we have approximately 11  years and 2 months (134 months) left on our mortgage.  Nevertheless, I would like to have it paid off in another 10 years (or less). If we accomplish that, I plan to use the last few years to aggressively build our passive income to help supplement our retirement and defer tapping into the 457K as long as we can so it can continue to grow. 

Right now we are not putting any extra money towards the principal given our low 2.875% interest rate. We feel that we could make our money grow faster by investing it and while keeping the money more liquid. At a certain point, maybe in 6-9 years, we may consider using money from our investment accounts to wipe out the remaining mortgage balance.  Until then, we will continue to grow that money outside, rather than have it locked into our home.

  

Click on the link below to view our mortgage balance history:

Mortgage Balance History

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - February 2017

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,344 stock analyses (and still growing). The collection essentially provides links to various stock analyses that we found throughout the dividend blog community since 2013. Last year we added a total of 445 stock analyses to the collection. If you would like to view archives from previous years, please follow the respective links provided at the end of this post. 

2017
This is the fifth year of since we began collecting various stock analyses throughout the DGI blogging community.  Even in our 5th year, we remain committed to keep this collection up to date.  At minimum, we promise to add new stock analyses on a weekly basis (if not more frequent).  To date, our 2017 Collection is already comprised of 52 stock analyses.

Last year we foolishly thought that we could provide weekly updates to our Collection of Stock Analyses. Since that failed miserable, we believe this year we will stick to an update once or twice a month. Based on the stats for this Collection, as well as our update posts, we realize that these stock analyses have become a popular tool. Our goal is to keep it relevant and useful for our readers. 

Thank you everyone for making this resource a success! 

     

February 2017 (Update):

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses that were recently added to our 2017 Collection of Stock Analyses:

Archer Daniel Midland Co (ADM)

by Pollies Dividend

Capital Care Properties (CPP)

by Sure Dividend

Cardinal Health Inc (CAH)

by Mr. Free @ 33

Carlisle Companies (CSL)

by Simply Safe Dividends

CVS Health Corp (CVS)

by Dividend Growth Stocks

Dominion Resources (D)

by Simply Safe Dividends

Gilead Sciences (GILD)

by Dividend TIME

Macy's (M)

by Simply Safe Dividends

Novo Nordisk (NVO)

by Sure Dividends

Phillip Morris Int'l (PM)

by Simply Safe Dividends

Sturm, Ruger & Company (RGR)

by Sure Dividend

Verizon Communications (VZ)

by Dividend Growth Stocks

Whole Foods Market (WFM)

by Dividend Value Builder

W. W. Grainger Inc (GWW)

by Dividend Growth Stocks

Links provided directly in this post!

Please feel free to leave me a message if you prepared a stock analysis that I did not include in my post.  I would be more than happy to add your stock analysis to both this post and our collection of stock analyses.  Please make sure to confirm that it is a dividend paying stock and that it is a individual stock analysis.

  

My goal is to make this collection become the centralized source where one begins their research on a particular dividend stock company or at the very least, a source to confirm if a company stock is worth buying. Whether your a beginner or a veteran, I want this list to become an invaluable reference tool for you all. Best part, unlike other subscription based sites, I plan to keep this completely free for everyone to enjoy and benefit from.

Feel free to share with all of your friends and family! 

Click on Link Below

2017 - Collection of Stock Analyses

(Archived 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013)

Also don't forget to check out our:

2017 - Collection of Recent Buys

RECENT BUY : V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC)

We Recently Purchased The Following:

V.F. Corporation (VFC)

Purchased 7 shares of VFC on 2/3/2017 at $49.58
Total Spent: $347.05; added $11.76 in forward dividends.

On January 26, we posted that we purchased 8 shares of V.F. Corporation for our Family's Dividend Stocks Portfolio.  At the time, we already felt that VFC was attractively priced.  Needless to say that when the stock price dipped below $50, we took the opportunity to add a few more shares to our current holdings.  

On February 3, we decided to pull the trigger and add 7 more shares of V.F. Corporation to our Family's Dividend Stocks portfolio.  So with our recent purchase, we now own 15 total shares in VFC that provides us with a total of $25.20 in dividends per year.  We plan to continue watching VFC to see if it dips any further. 

From our research, we are attracted by the 3% plus yield, manageable payout ratio and the long dividend history that VFC offers.  We believe that VFC is a good long term hold that offers a nice risk/reward ratio. Nevertheless, we understand that everyone has their own risk tolerance and stock screening methods. With that said, please make sure to do your own research when buying any stocks. 

But in case V.F. Corporation (VFC) does intrigue you, below are few links to Seeking Alpha articles to help you begin your research:

1. V.F. Corpo is priced to buy under $50 - Lyn Alden Schwartzer
2. Is Quality V.F. Corp a great bargain - Passive Income Earner
3. V.F. Corporation is insanely undervalued but uncertainty weighs on the stock - Abba's Aces
4. V.F. Corp. - Where Is The Love - Abba's Aces
5. V.F. Corporation: A High-Yield Dividend Aristocrat - Wait For It - Chuck Carnevale
6. Would You Consider V.F. Corp. Today? - Eli Inkrot
7. V.F. Corp.: Forget The Dividend - Millennial Investing
8. Learning From V.F. Corp.'s 'Expensive' Past - Eli Inkrot

Company Description

From Google Finance:

“V.F. Corporation (VF) is engaged in the design, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and related products. The Company's segments include Outdoor & Action Sports, Jeanswear, Imagewear, Sportswear, Contemporary Brands and Other. The Company owns a portfolio of brands in the outerwear, footwear, denim, backpack, luggage, accessory, sportswear, occupational and performance apparel categories. The Company's brands primarily include The North Face, Vans, Timberland, Wrangler, Lee Nautica, Majestic and Kipling. The Company's products are marketed to consumers shopping in specialty stores, upscale and traditional department stores, national chains, mass merchants and its own direct-to-consumer operations. Its direct-to-consumer business includes VF-operated stores, concession retail stores and e-commerce sites. The Company's brands sell products in international markets through licensees, distributors and independently-operated partnership stores.”

With our recent purchase of V.F. Corporation (VFC), the estimated forward dividends for our family's dividend stocks portfolio grew another $11.76, putting our yearly dividends at approximately $2,599/year (excluding our Edwards Jones account) and $3,013/year (including our Edward Jones account).  

We did not previously own V.F. Corporation (VFC), therefore, the recent buy of VFC added yet another dividend paying company to our family's dividend stocks portfolios (WF and EJ Accounts). The total stocks held in our family's dividend stock portfolio is now 60 different dividend paying stocks/ETFs and also 5 companies that either don't pay a dividend our has currently suspended their dividends.

Our family's dividend stocks portfolio may be found

by clicking on the link below:

DIVIDEND STOCKS PORTFOLIO

We also maintain an extensive list of stock analysis

that can be access through the link below:

COLLECTION OF STOCK ANALYSES

We also just started a list of Recent Buys by other bloggers

that can be access through the link below:

COLLECTION OF RECENT BUYS

HERE IS A QUICK FACT SHEET FOR THE STOCK I JUST PURCHASED:

V.F. Corporation (VFC)

P/E: 18.0

Payout Ratio: 53.7%
Dividend Yield: 3.34%
44 consecutive years of dividend increases
Last Ex-dividend date: 12/07/2016

Next Ex-dividend date: approx. 03/07/2017
Have paid a dividend since: 1941 (75 years)
Pays a dividend 4 times a year
Market Cap: 15.67 Billion
52-week high: $67.10
52-week low: $48.05
Purchased Price: $49.58

What are your thoughts on of recent purchase?

What are you buying?

Collection of RECENT BUYS (January 2017 Summary)

Since our family began investing in dividend stocks approximately two and a half years ago, I've been keeping a personal log of what other dividend bloggers and dividend investors are buying. The collection essentially highlights the Recent Buys that I discover throughout the dividend blog community. Its nice to see what others are buying, if for nothing more to get some ideas.  

This collection started out as my own personal data sheet but I have since decided to share it with the DGI community.  I am glad I did because, as evident in our recent post (We Just Joined the 400K club), it has been once of the more popular pages on our blog!! We hope it everyone continues to use our Collection of Recent Buys and it remains a great resource for all. It can be a lot of work to maintain but we remain committed and will do our best to keep this list up to date. 

Please feel free to bookmark or share the page: 

 COLLECTION OF RECENT BUYS

AND NOW FOR THE SUMMARY OF
WHAT EVERYONE HAS BEEN BUYING THIS PAST MONTH

During the month of January a total of 49 buys were found throughout the DGI community. Given that the DOW is now above the 20,000 threshold, and there is much uncertainty of what Donald Trump's next move is, it appears that buying activities have slowed a bit.  

Below is a chart and corresponding table that identifies those companies that were purchased three or more times this past month: 

To summarize the past month, out of a total of 49 buys found around the DGI community (with a minimum total of $300), a total of 31 companies were purchased with a total of only 8 companies that were bought more than once. From the buys collected,  DGI investors picked up a stock not purchased by others 63% of the time. 

For the month of January, V.F. Corporation (VFC) lead the charge as the most popular stocks among DGI investors this past month. UL was purchased by 5 different investors throughout the DGI community. Our family also managed to grab a few shares of this popular choice among DGI investors. On January 26, 2017, our family picked up 8 shares of V.F. Corporation (VFC) at $52.00.

The second most popular stock this past month was Unilever (UL) which was purchased by 4 different investors throughout the DGI community.  UL appears to have remained on everybody's radar since November, when it was the most bought stock in the DGI community.

Rounding up the third was a 4-way tie between Gilead Sciences, Inc (GILD), Procter & Gamble (PG), Target Corporation (TGT), and CVS Pharmacy (CVS). All four companies were purchased by 3 difference investors throughout the DGI community. Our family grabbed 7 shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD) at $71.33 on January 19, 2017. 

Although not included in the above summary charts, it is worth mentioning that the following two stocks were bought more than once this past month:   

1. AbbVie Inc (ABBV)
2. Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

Data used for this SUMMARY is from our 

 COLLECTION OF RECENT BUYS

What have you been buying?  Please feel free to share in the comments or send me a link to your Recent Buy post in case I happened to have missed it.

If you have a chance, make sure you also take a look at my COLLECTION OF STOCK ANALYSES!! As with my collection of recent buys, my goal is to make this collection also become a centralized source for everyone. It could become a place where one can get ideas on what to invest in next, to establish a desired stock purchase price, or simply to see what your favorite blogger is buying.  Whatever your reason, my hope is that this collection proves to be a great reference tool and helps provide you that little extra advantage that you are looking for in order to succeed with your investing.

Also, if you have a chance, make sure you also follow or visit Adam over at I Want to Retire Soon (IWTRS) as he generally provides a weekly summary of recent buys! A link to past summaries is maintained on his blog. Another great resource for ideas if you are not sure where to invest next! 

A Frugal Family's Journey - We Just Joined the 400K Club!!

A BIG "Thank You" to everyone that has supported, and continues to support and visit our blog...whether you have been with us from the beginning or you've just recently joined the journey, we would like to thank each and every one of you for your support.  

We started blogging about our frugal family's journey approximately 35 months ago on March 15, 2014. Our blogging journey started out as a hobby and simply a way to keep on track of our progress. Flash forward 2 years and roughly 11 months later, I am thrilled to announce that because of each and every one of our readers, we just reached yet another milestone.  As of yesterday, February 3, 2017, we became proud members of the 400K club! 

It took approximately 15 months to reach our first milestone of 100,000 page visits to our blog. It took us the next 6 months and 28 days to reach our second milestone of 200,000 page visits milestone. Then, even with a 6-week hiatus last summer, it took us 7 month and 11 days reach our 300,000 page visits milestone. We did that on September 13, 2016. 

Kind of like the compound interest theory, things are definitely progressing much quicker these days.  I'm happy and blessed to say that we reached the 400,000 page milestone yesterday, in just 4 months and 22 days!

Since I am somewhat of a stats nerd, below are some additional stats behind our 300,000 visits.

Top Referring Sites

BIG thanks to google.com and twitter, but we also want to recognize and give special thanks to Captain Dividend, My Dividend Pipeline, Passive Income Pursuit, and Rockstar Finance for the additional traffic from your respective blogs. Lastly, although not present on the list above, I would like to also thank two other fellow bloggers and friends, Roadmap2Retire and I Want to Retire Soon, for your continue support and mention of our Collection of Recent Buys and Collection of Stock Analyses.  

Also, thanks to all that have tweeted or re-tweeted our posts.  Our additional presence and our followers on Twitter has truly helped us continue to grow. In case you would like to follow us on Twitter, we can be found under: @FrugalFamilyof4.  I'm proud to say that we now 1,475 followers on Twitter.  

Most Popular Page Visits

Our top three most popular page visits are: 1) Dividend Stocks Portfolio with 15,186 page views; 2) 2015 - Collection of Recent Buys with 12,505 page views; and 3) 2016 - Collection of Recent Buys with 10,430 page views. It appears that in addition to our family's dividend stocks portfolio, readers are definitely using the Collection of Recent Buys. We will continue to do our best to continue keep this collection, along with our Collection of Stock Analyses, current and popular. 

Most Popular Posts

Our top three most popular posts are: 1) Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - December 2016 with 2,267 page views; 2) P2P Accounts (Update) - August 2014 with 2,083 page views; and 3) Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - November 2016 with 1,938 page views. It appears that readers value the UPDATES to our Collection to Stock Analyses more than the actual collection itself.  Seeing these results, we will certainly make sure to provide updates more frequently.  

Thank you again everyone!! These post received the page views they did because of you (our readers and fellow bloggers).  Thank you for reading and/or sharing our post with others. We truly appreciate each and every one of you for the support!

Top Page Views By Countries

We are tremendously grateful that our blog has seemed to have a worldwide presence as evident by the chart above.  However, the top page views to our blog came from the following top three countries: 1) United States, with the largest presence at 262,257 page views; 2) Russia in second with 18,225 page views; and 3) Germany in third with 17,186 page views.  US and Germany have consistently been in the top three for each milestone to date.  The surprise here is that Russia has leap over Germany to overtake the second spot.  Russia was previous in fourth.  And Canada, who was previously in second, seemed to have lost ground during this last milestone.  

It fun to look at the stats and maybe even create a little friendly competition with them.  But the reality is, near or far, first or tenth, we truly value each and every reader.  Thank you for visiting and we hope you continue to do so. 

AGAIN...THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR HELPING US 

REACH YET ANOTHER HUGE MILESTONE!!