The High Yield Dividend Champion Portfolio is a publicly tracked stock portfolio on Scott’s Investments. Its goal is to capture quality high yield stocks with a history of raising dividends.
The screening process for this portfolio starts with the “Dividend Champions” as compiled by DRIP Investing. The list is comprised of stocks that have increased their dividend payout for at least 25 consecutive years.
I made one change to the screen methodology for 2016 in order to further simplify the process. Stocks from the Dividend Champion list were previously ranked on yield, payout ratio, P/E, and 3 year dividend growth rate.
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In 2016 stocks are ranked on yield, P/E and 3 year dividend growth rate but payout ratio is no longer a factor. The modification has a relatively low impact on screen results.
Stocks will still be sold on the re-balance date (generally around the 5th of the month) when they drop out of the top 15 (to limit turnover) and are replaced with the next highest rated stock.
The top 25 stocks using the new method are below and displayed in order of their overall ranking (figures are from the end of September):
| Name | Symbol | Yield | P/E | 3-yr |
| Target Corp. | TGT | 3.49 | 13.34 | 17.84 |
| T. Rowe Price Group | TROW | 3.25 | 16.06 | 15.21 |
| Altria Group Inc. | MO | 3.86 | 21.95 | 8.36 |
| AT&T Inc. | T | 4.73 | 17.50 | 2.22 |
| Old Republic International | ORI | 4.26 | 11.52 | 1.39 |
| Helmerich & Payne Inc. | HP | 4.16 | N/A | 114.15 |
| Eagle Financial Services | EFSI | 3.41 | 10.61 | 3.10 |
| Emerson Electric | EMR | 3.49 | 19.61 | 5.40 |
| Universal Corp. | UVV | 3.64 | 17.86 | 2.00 |
| Computer Services Inc. | CSVI | 2.94 | 18.96 | 21.05 |
| Community Trust Banc. | CTBI | 3.45 | 14.06 | 2.25 |
| Archer Daniels Midland | ADM | 2.85 | 17.07 | 16.96 |
| Coca-Cola Company | KO | 3.31 | 24.32 | 8.97 |
| Consolidated Edison | ED | 3.56 | 19.41 | 2.42 |
| Weyco Group Inc. | WEYS | 3.13 | 17.91 | 6.18 |
| HCP Inc. | HCP | 6.06 | N/A | 4.16 |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX | 4.16 | N/A | 6.83 |
| ExxonMobil Corp. | XOM | 3.44 | 34.63 | 9.73 |
| McDonald’s Corp. | MCD | 3.26 | 21.97 | 6.22 |
| WGL Holdings Inc. | WGL | 3.11 | 17.66 | 4.80 |
| Wal-Mart Stores Inc. | WMT | 2.77 | 15.51 | 7.78 |
| United Bankshares Inc. | UBSI | 3.50 | 19.62 | 1.06 |
| Mercury General Corp. | MCY | 4.52 | 27.29 | 0.41 |
| Leggett & Platt Inc. | LEG | 2.98 | 17.60 | 3.42 |
| Eaton Vance Corp. | EV | 2.71 | 18.77 | 9.18 |
There is turnover in one position this month. Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR) merged with Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE:D) effective September 16. For the purposes of the portfolio we will assume STR was sold at its 9/16/16 closing price. The proceeds will be used to purchase Universal Corp (NYSE:UVV).
The current portfolio is below. A note on CSVI, which was purchased last month. It is small cap ($551M market cap) and thinly traded stock:
| Position | Shares | Average Purchase Price | Initial Purchase Date | Percentage Gain/Loss Excluding Dividends |
| CTBI | 630 | 33.9 | 7/5/2016 | 8.47% |
| EMR | 425 | 49.64 | 8/4/2015 | 7.55% |
| ORI | 1145 | 16.22 | 4/4/2014 | 9.80% |
| CSVI | 634 | 39.2 | 8/5/2016 | 0.13% |
| TGT | 391 | 68.65 | 6/3/2016 | -0.35% |
| MO | 400 | 58.14 | 1/7/2016 | 6.26% |
| TROW | 300 | 71.35 | 7/5/2016 | -5.62% |
| HP | 341 | 80.9 | 10/6/2014 | -14.54% |
| UVV | 474 | 56.96 | 10/6/2016 | 0.00% |
| T | 650 | 38.13 | 3/7/2016 | 2.57% |
Note: This article is written by Scott’s Investments.
