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.

For 2016 I made one change to the screen methodology 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.

In 2016 stocks are ranked on yield, P/E and 3 year dividend growth rate.  Payout ratio will no longer be a factor.  The modification has a relatively low impact to 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 15 stocks using the new method  are below and displayed in order of their overall ranking (figures are January month-end):

There is turnover this month in one position. Walmart (WMT) has been a holding since October 2015 and will be sold for a gain of 1.99%.  The proceeds will be used to purchase Eaton Vance (EV).  A small portion of the of the WMT sale will also be used to rebalance the portfolio’s position in HP by purchasing an additional 20 shares.

The current portfolio is below: