Last week I added 5 shares of Meridian Biosciences, Inc. (VIVO) to the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  With the addition of (VIVO) the Own Every Stock Portfolio now has a total of 144 stocks representing 28 different countries throughout the world.  Meridian Biosciences is a small cap healthcare sector stock with a current market capitalization of around 810 million.  The company's core business is diagnostic test kits for a variety of diseases sold in several countries primarily located in North America and Europe.  In its most recent quarterly earnings, the company was able to boost profit by 10%, partially by test kits that detect the flu.  The shares of (VIVO) were added to the Own Every Stock portfolio at a cost of  19.66 per share.

Currently, Meridian Biosciences is trading at around 20 times earnings with zero long term debt and around 60 million in cash.  Last month, the company boosted its dividend 11.76% from $0.17 per quarter to $0.19 per quarter ($0.76 per year).  With its latest dividend increase, VIVO shares are now yielding just under 3.8%.  It is difficult to find a potential growth company with a solid dividend yield, but I believe Meridian Biosciences fits these two criteria nicely.  Add in the fact the company has no debt, and I am optimistic about the future prospects of the company.  Of course, my opinion is just that, an opinion, and should not be construed as an investment recommendation.  A person considering any investment should conduct their own due diligence or contact an investment advisor before making any investment decisions.

Last week, I added 6 shares of (NLY) Annaly Capital Management, Inc. to the portfolio at a price of $17.40 per share.  Basically, I added the stock to the portfolio because it has a ridiculously high dividend yield of over 17%.  While a dividend yield that high isn't likely to be sustainable long term, I thought I would pick up an amazing yield while I can.  Plus, Annaly Capital does have a nice dividend paying history, so even if the payout rate ends up being lower that its current rate, it is still likely to be a very good dividend.  Also, the company operates as a (REIT) real estate investment trust, which requires them to pay out at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders.

As it turns out,  Annaly's earnings slightly beat expectations yesterday after the bell, so I was able to get a little pop in the price I entered the stock at.  For the quarter, NLY earned $0.79 per share in core earnings per share, while they earned $1.31 per share on a GAAP basis.  How the company makes money can be a complex question, but basically the company invests in a variety of mortgage back investments and earns a return for its shareholders.  Leverage is a necessary tool for this type of company, but it has done a good job of managing its leverage to withstand the financial crisis that hindered or eliminated many similar type companies.  As of the end of 2009, Annaly Capital had a leverage ratio of 5.7 to 1.

Finally, NLY is only trading at a slight premium to its tangible book value.  However, this number can be very misleading when it comes to mortgage related investments.  What the mortgage securities are valued on the books at and what the true value of the mortgage securities are can vary considerable.  All we need to do to prove this point is look back at what some of the book values were before the housing meltdown happened and what their true value actually was.  Regardless, the Own Every Stock Portfolio had very little exposure to the REIT market, so I thought I would add (NLY) Annaly Capital Management, Inc. to the portfolio.  Once again, I encourage everyone to do their own due diligence before purchasing any investments as I am not making a recommendation but rather supplying information about my holdings in the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  Thanks for stopping by.

It has been quite awhile since I have listed all the stocks within the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  On this report I also added a column of the total return of each stock since being added to the portfolio.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of red number in the portfolio as the overall return since beginning the Project is -4.48%.  There were a few times a couple weeks ago that the portfolio broke into positive territory, but it has since slid back into the red.  However, considering I started this project right before the financial crisis, I am fairly pleased with how well the overall portfolio has held up. 

Here are the current stocks in the Own Every Stock Portfolio (listed in alphabetical order by symbol):

Stock	Symbol	# of Shares	Overall Return
Alcoa, Inc.	AA	2.117	-63.20%
Abbott Laboratories	ABT	2.015	25.31%
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.	ADP	2.033	19.28%
Ameren Corporation	AEE	2.165	-26.35%
Amkor Technology	AMKR	6.000	-46.82%
American Express Company	AXP	1.035	-32.84%
Aircastle, Ltd	AYR	3.335	-46.44%
Boeing Company	BA	1.056	-33.59%
Bank of America Corporation	BAC	2.092	-59.75%
BB&T Corporation	BBT	2.142	-12.44%
Barclays PLC	BCS	3.112	-39.27%
Briggs & Stratton Corporation	BGG	4.243	12.75%
B & G Foods	BGS	9.513	15.92%
BH Billiton	BHP	1.000	7.55%
Banco Latinoamericano de Comerico	BLX	6.063	1.33%
Bristol Myers Squibb Company	BMY	3.227	30.82%
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation	BNI	1.030	22.95%
BT Group, plc	BT	2.251	-35.35%
Biovail Corporation	BVF	5.556	42.90%
Boyd GamingCorporation	BYD	6.000	-46.50%
Citigroup, Inc.	C	1.050	-90.21%
Cal-Maine Foods, Inc.	CALM	3.014	39.30%
Caterpillar, Inc.	CAT	1.064	-12.57%
Cato Corporation	CATO	4.032	-1.96%
CBS Corporation	CBS	5.413	-18.48%
Cellcom Israel Ltd.	CEL	3.058	6.51%
CNOOC Ltd.	CEO	1.016	26.77%
Cognex Corporation	CGNX	5.168	9.08%
Cherokee, Inc.	CHKE	2.352	-37.26%
Bancolumbia S.A.	CIB	3.041	49.72%
Cincinnati Financial Corporation	CINF	3.044	5.41%
Comerica, Inc.	CMA	2.091	6.77%
Centerpoint Energy, Inc.	CNP	5.429	10.90%
CPFL Energia S.A.	CPL	1.127	26.33%
Computer Programs & Systems, Inc.	CPSI	3.210	139.01%
Crane Company	CR	4.207	94.85%
Cisco Systems, Inc.	CSCO	4.000	24.61%
Centurytel, Inc.	CTL	4.168	17.13%
Chevron Corporation	CVX	1.056	-3.31%
Cemex S.A.B de C.V.	CX	3.000	-55.11%
Duetsche Bank AG	DB	1.008	-36.04%
DuPont de Nemours and Company	DD	1.091	-25.87%
Deere & Company	DE	1.034	-22.83%
Diageo	DEO	1.068	-10.89%
Walt Disney Company	DIS	2.056	-11.60%
Deluxe Corporation	DLX	5.569	20.91%
Dow Chemical Company	DOW	2.149	-13.30%
Diana Shipping, Inc.	DSX	2.247	-41.55%
DTE Energy Company	DTE	1.097	-1.49%
ENI SpA	E	2.044	6.85%
American Ecology Corporation	ECOL	5.103	-8.80%
Consolidated Edison, Inc.	ED	2.056	19.39%
Eastman Kodak Company	EK	20.000	3.52%
Eaton Corporation	ETN	1.064	-25.80%
Entergy Corporation	ETR	1.057	-18.79%
Corporate Executive Board Company	EXBD	2.130	-10.76%
France Telecom ADS	FTE	3.000	-9.08%
General Electric	GE	1.092	-53.16%
Gold Fields, Ltd.	GFI	5.145	-10.13%
General Motors Corporation	GM	2.000	-95.45%
Genuine Parts Company	GPC	3.000	-0.34%
Great Plains Energy, Inc.	GXP	3.280	-24.80%
Home Depot, Inc.	HD	2.107	-5.93%
Honda Motor Company, Ltd.	HMC	3.072	24.56%
HJ Heinz Company	HNZ	2.136	3.44%
Honeywell International, Inc.	HON	1.054	-27.21%
Hewlett Packard Company	HPQ	1.013	0.20%
International Business Machines	IBM	1.030	14.10%
ING Groep, NV	ING	2.058	-69.01%
Intel Corporation	INTC	2.102	-16.89%
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	3.098	24.42%
JP Morgan Chase & Company	JPM	1.028	-6.21%
Kraft Foods, Inc.	KFT	2.132	-7.06%
Kimberly Clark Corporation	KMB	1.066	3.65%
Coca-Cola Company	KO	1.049	2.75%
Leggett & Platt, Inc.	LEG	5.130	16.61%
LAN Airlines	LFL	5.230	20.51%
Eli Lilly & Company	LLY	3.041	5.96%
Life Partner Holdings, Inc.	LPHI	5.062	12.57%
Lloyds TSB Group	LYG	3.686	-75.91%
Marriott International	MAR	2.031	-23.34%
Masco Corporation	MAS	4.299	-16.86%
Mattell, Inc.	MAT	5.443	24.63%
McDonald's Corporation	MCD	1.052	23.39%
Microchip Technology, Inc.	MCHP	2.160	-10.82%
3M Company	MMM	1.049	1.79%
Altria Group, Inc.	MO	1.122	15.62%
Merck & Company, Inc.	MRK	1.077	-16.97%
Marathon Oil Corporation	MRO	3.102	21.57%
Microsoft Corporation	MSFT	2.067	-11.81%
Magyar Telekom Telecommunications	MTA	3.381	-1.27%
Nokia Corporation	NOK	6.000	-16.10%
Newell Rubbermaid, Inc.	NWL	4.240	-14.42%
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand	NZT	4.526	-38.30%
Paychex, Inc.	PAYX	2.136	-1.32%
Pitney Bowes, Inc.	PBI	4.125	-0.07%
Southern Copper Corporation	PCU	3.218	19.68%
Pepsico, Inc.	PEP	1.046	-16.94%
Pfizer, Inc.	PFE	2.193	-13.43%
Procter & Gamble Company	PG	1.045	-8.35%
Progress Energy, Inc.	PGN	2.064	7.61%
Phillippine Long Distance Telephone Co.	PHI	2.000	15.11%
Packaging Corporation of America	PKG	3.223	-4.59%
Phillip Morris International	PM	1.079	7.76%
Pepco Holdings, Inc.	POM	7.235	31.45%
Prudential Financial, Inc.	PRU	1.034	-31.89%
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.	PTEN	8.244	77.20%
Qualcomm, Inc.	QCOM	2.047	18.56%
Reynolds American, Inc.	RAI	1.125	-10.33%
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional	SID	2.143	-24.80%
Sara Lee Corporation	SLE	6.383	-0.11%
Sasol, Ltd.	SSL	2.144	-14.00%
Sovran Self Storage, Inc.	SSS	2.220	-13.41%
Banco Santander, Ltd.	STD	4.371	-23.30%
Sysco Corporation	SYY	3.180	-2.03%
AT&T, Inc.	T	1.081	-31.95%
TAL International Group, Inc.	TAL	3.107	-35.68%
Integrys Energy Group, Inc.	TEG	1.120	-6.10%
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri	TKC	5.000	12.55%
Tomkins	TKS	5.423	1.70%
Tele Norte Leste Participacoes S.A.	TNE	5.000	-5.38%
Travelers Companies, Inc.	TRV	2.025	17.38%
Telecomunicacoes De Sao Paulo	TSP	3.358	12.07%
Tata Motors, Inc.	TTM	5.043	10.41%
Textron, Inc.	TXT	4.096	29.33%
United Technologies Corporation	UTX	1.043	-2.72%
Vector Group, Inc.	VGR	4.693	-1.55%
Vimpel Communications	VIP	3.039	-39.22%
Verizon Communications	VZ	1.078	-18.34%
Wells Fargo & Company	WFC	3.182	14.07%
Whole Foods Market, Inc.	WFMI	2.000	-13.37%
WSP Holdings, Inc.	WH	16.050	-47.69%
Windstream Corporation	WIN	7.056	0.36%
Waste Management, Inc.	WMI	2.115	-0.41%
Walmart Stores, Inc.	WMT	1.029	22.31%
Worthington Industries, Inc.	WOR	5.334	-16.19%
Aqua America, Inc.	WTR	5.231	5.92%
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.	WWE	4.722	2.03%
Weyerhaeuser Company	WY	1.049	-38.35%
Xcel Energy, Inc.	XEL	3.236	10.85%
Xilinx, Inc.	XLNX	3.128	8.03%
Exxon Mobil Corporation	XOM	1.034	-24.57%

The Coca Cola Company (KO) has been another consistent stock performer in the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  Year after year, Coke continues to produce steady revenue and profits, while increasing their stock dividend every year.  However, unless the company's fourth quarter widely beats expectations, Coke will have its first year over year drop in revenue in many years.  Nevertheless, one of the world's most well know logos and brands, Coca Cola, has held up much better than most companies through the recession.  Over the past several months, KO stock has steadily climbed, continually making new 52 week highs along the way.  Today, Coke's stock closed at 59.11 after reaching an intra-day high of 59.40, both of these respective numbers represent the stock's 52 week highs.  The stock may be getting a little ahead of its self fundamentally, but solid earnings growth are expected in 2010, so expect the forward looking PE number to gradually move down unless the stock price continues to soar.  Even at its current levels, Coca Cola's stock is priced at a very similar valuation to its nearest competitor, Pepsi.

Of course, another reason investors have liked Coke's stock over the years is its consistent dividend growth.  For the past 47 years, The Coca-Cola Company has raised its dividend every year.  In the chart below, I went back to 1975 to show what the split adjusted annualized dividend was and the subsequent dividend percent increase amount.  Since 1975, KO stock has had 5 stock splits, turning every share a person owned in 1975 into 48 shares today.  In 1996, 1992, 1990, and 1977, Coke's stock had 2 for 1 splits, while in 1986 the stock split 3 for 1.

The Coca Cola Company's Historical Dividend Increases (split adjusted)

Year	Yearly Dividends            Paid	Year over Year    % Increase	Year	Yearly Dividends            Paid	Year over Year    % Increase
1975	$0.0479		1993	$0.34	21.43%
1976	$0.0552	15.24%	1994	$0.39	14.71%
1977	$0.0642	16.30%	1995	$0.44	12.82%
1978	$0.0725	12.93%	1996	$0.50	13.64%
1979	$0.0817	12.69%	1997	$0.56	12.00%
1980	$0.09	10.16%	1998	$0.60	7.14%
1981	$0.0967	7.44%	1999	$0.64	6.67%
1982	$0.1033	6.83%	2000	$0.68	6.25%
1983	$0.1117	8.13%	2001	$0.72	5.88%
1984	$0.115	2.95%	2002	$0.80	11.11%
1985	$0.1233	7.22%	2003	$0.88	10.00%
1986	$0.13	5.43%	2004	$1.00	13.64%
1987	$0.14	7.69%	2005	$1.12	12.00%
1988	$0.15	7.14%	2006	$1.24	10.71%
1989	$0.17	13.33%	2007	$1.36	9.68%
1990	$0.20	17.65%	2008	$1.52	11.76%
1991	$0.24	20.00%	2009	$1.64	7.89%
1992	$0.28	16.67%

Moving forward, I expect The Coca Cola Company to continue to steadily grind its way forward with improving earnings and yearly dividend hikes.  One potential road block for the company could be a proposed tax on soft drinks.  However, just as the tobacco companies continue to pass the taxes on to the consumer, I would expect the large beverage companies to do the same.  At some point, higher prices may lessen demand, but the energy drinks don't seem to have a problem selling product at higher prices, albeit, not at the quantity Coke's sells its name brand soda.  Thanks for stopping by my blog, and please be sure to due your own investment research before making any investment decisions.

When General Electric Company was added to the Own Every Stock Portfolio a couple years ago, the financial markets were a much different environment than the investment landscape today.  Back then, General Electric was considered a good barometer of the overall market because the large conglomerate's business was thought to be diversified across many different sectors of the economy.  To some extent, that premise was true, but what wasn't factored in, was how one arm of the business (GE Capital) could severely damage and bring down the overall profits and stability of the company as a whole.  In fact, the losses from the GE Capital arm aren't expected to stabilize and reverse course until 2011.  In addition, the losses from the financing arm were so detrimental to General Electric that earlier this year the company was forced to forgo its annual dividend increase and instead cut its dividend by nearly 70% down to $.10 per quarter from $.31 per quarter.

However, GE has begun to change its focus from a large conglomerate back to its core industrial strengths.  For example, GE recently announced it is selling 51% of its stake in NBC to Comcast for an estimated 30 billion dollar overall transaction.  I wouldn't expect the company to divest too much of its assets, but I do expect the growth to come from its core businesses.  A good example is the 14 billion dollar wind generation project in Oregon, GE was just awarded.  General Electric will remain a big conglomerate, but I expect its major revenue and earnings drivers to be from its industrial businesses.

From a technical standpoint, GE's stock has bounced off its bottom channel while trending up from its March low of around $6 to its current level of around $16.  However, the channel has been narrowing suggesting a breakout move in one direction.  Up the upside, I would look for a confirmed breakthrough of the 17.50 to 18.00 range.  18.45 is the current 52 week high and the stock hit some strong resistance in September when it tested the 17.00 to 17.50 range before receding to the $14 support level and bouncing up to its current levels.  For the past month, GE has been oscillating around the $16 level in a consolidating fashion similar to the overall market.  I expect more consolidation to occur before a test and breakthrough of either resistance or support.  Personally, I would wait for confirmation of direction before making a shorter term trade in either direction.  Over the long term, I expect General Electric to continue growing its core business eventually improving revenue, earnings, and its stock price.

Disclaimer:  My opinions should not be viewed as a recommendation to buy or sell General Electric and is intended only for informational purposes.  Please conduct your own due diligence before making any investment decision.

Today, I put together a spreadsheet with the dividend yield of all 141 stocks within the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  Currently, only 9 stocks within the portfolio do not pay a dividend, and 35 stocks are producing a dividend of over 5%.  However, I am going to group the stocks into two categories:  Domestic stocks and foreign stocks issued as ADRs on a U.S. Exchange.  All the dividend yields on the U.S. companies are based on their current dividend payout while the foreign based companies are based on the dividend payments made in 2009.  It is much more difficult to forecast upcoming dividends on foreign stocks, because the amounts will vary from year to year and often times special dividends are paid in addition to regular dividends.  In addition, the top few dividend yields on the foreign stocks listed are likely to be cut or significantly reduced in 2010, especially Lloyd's Banking Group and WSP Holdings.  Here is a chart with the 35 stocks within the Own Every Stock Portfolio currently earning more than a 5% dividend yield based on today's closing prices.

Domestic Stocks	Symbol	Dividend      Yield	Foreign Stocks	Symbol	Dividend       Yield
Cherokee, Inc.	CHKE	11.76%	Lloyds Banking Group	LYG	32.02%
Windstream Corp.	WIN	9.17%	WSP Holdings Ltd.	WH	22.26%
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.	WWE	8.78%	Tele Norte Leste Part.	TNE	11.88%
B & G Foods, Inc.	BGS	7.82%	France Telecom	FTE	9.86%
Centurytel, Inc.	CTL	7.81%	Cellcom Israel	CEL	9.68%
Deluxe Corporation	DLX	7.28%	Magyar Telekom	MTA	9.26%
Altria Group, Inc.	MO	7.02%	Telecom Corp of New Zealand	NZT	9.13%
Reynolds American, Inc.	RAI	6.81%	Philippine Long Distance	PHI	6.46%
Integrys Energy Group, Inc.	TEG	6.56%	CPFL Energia SA	CPL	5.89%
Pepco Holdings, Inc.	POM	6.40%	Banco Santander SA	STD	5.33%
Pitney Bowes, Inc.	PBI	6.40%	Telecom de Sao Paulo SA	TSP	5.22%
Cincinnati Financial Corp.	CINF	6.19%	Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri	TKC	5.00%
Progress Energy, Inc.	PGN	6.02%
AT&T, Inc.	T	5.95%
Ameren Corporation	AEE	5.75%
Verizon Communications	VZ	5.71%
Sovran Self Storage, Inc.	SSS	5.48%
Centerpoint Energy, Inc.	CNP	5.47%
Eli Lilly & Company	LLY	5.36%
Consolidated Edison, Inc.	ED	5.34%
Leggett & Platt, Inc.	LEG	5.21%
DuPont de Nemours & Co.	DD	5.19%
Life Partners Holdings, Inc.	LPHI	5.15%

Johnson & Johnson was the third stock I added to the Own Every Stock Portfolio a couple years ago and it has generated a nice return so far.  I also added more shares of JNJ with the cash I received with the cash buyout  of Mentor Corporation (another company that was in the portfolio) by Johnson & Johnson.  In addition to its share appreciation, JNJ has a long history of big dividend increases.  In fact, since 1975, the company has raised its yearly dividend by more than 10% every year with 4 exceptions still averaging well over an 8% increase.  Long term shareholders of JNJ have also seen the number of shares they hold compound with 5 stock splits over the past 25 plus years.  Johnson & Johnson's most recent stock split came in 2001 when the stock split 2 for 1.  In addition, JNJ also had 2 for 1 stock splits in 1996, 1992, and 1989, while in 1981 the stock split 3 for 1.  From the stock splits alone, 100 shares of JNJ purchased before 1981 would have grown into 4800 shares today and this doesn't even account for dividends.

More recently, JNJ has seen its stock rally from its March low of $46.25 to a new 52 week high of over $65 last week.  Even with the recent gains, the stock is trading at pretty fair valuation with a PE around 13 to 14, depending on whether you choose to use the forward or trailing price earnings ratio.  JNJ is also yielding a very respectable 3% from its current dividend payout, and barring an unforeseen disaster, one can expect another dividend increase before its second dividend payment in 2010.  The chart below demonstrates the consistency of Johnson and Johnson's dividend increases since 1975.  All dividends have been adjusted for stock splits.

Year	Yearly Dividends          Paid	Year over Year     Increase	Year	Yearly Dividends          Paid	Year over Year     Increase
1975	$0.0177		1993	$0.2525	13.48%
1976	$0.0219	23.73%	1994	$0.2825	11.88%
1977	$0.0292	33.33%	1995	$0.3200	13.27%
1978	$0.0354	21.23%	1996	$0.3675	14.84%
1979	$0.0417	17.80%	1997	$0.4250	15.65%
1980	$0.0464	11.27%	1998	$0.4850	14.12%
1981	$0.0532	14.66%	1999	$0.5450	12.37%
1982	$0.0606	13.91%	2000	$0.6200	13.76%
1983	$0.0672	10.89%	2001	$0.7000	12.90%
1984	$0.0734	9.23%	2002	$0.7950	13.57%
1985	$0.0797	8.58%	2003	$0.9250	16.35%
1986	$0.0859	7.78%	2004	$1.0950	18.38%
1987	$0.1006	17.11%	2005	$1.2750	16.44%
1988	$0.1200	19.28%	2006	$1.4550	14.12%
1989	$0.1400	16.67%	2007	$1.6200	11.34%
1990	$0.1638	17.00%	2008	$1.7950	10.80%
1991	$0.1925	17.52%	2009	$1.9300	7.52%
1992	$0.2225	15.58%

In addition to its exceptional dividend history, Johnson & Johnson is also sitting on over $14 billion in cash which puts in a good position to make key acquisitions when the right opportunity arises.  Moving forward I like the long term prospects of JNJ stock and I expect it to continue to earn a steady return for the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  Of course, my opinion shouldn't be viewed as a recommendation and a person should complete their own due diligence before purchasing any investment.

Unfortunately, Citigroup, Inc. was the second stock I purchased in the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  This purchase was made back when Citigroup was part of the Dow Jones and actually making money.  Since then, the stock has fallen out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and as of today's close, is now below $4.00 per share.  As a result, Citigroup has been one of the worst performing stocks in the portfolio and the immediate future doesn't look much better.  After Bank of America's recent repayment of the TARP funds, Citigroup is under even more pressure to repay the TARP money to the government themselves or face increased pressure on their already depressed stock price.

In late August, Citigroup's stock briefly popped above $5 a share, but since then the stock has meandered steadily downward to its current price of $3.91 per share.  Fortunately for me, Citigroup now makes up such a small percentage of the portfolio, that even if the stock were to become worthless, it is nearly irrelavent to my overall return in the portfolio.  I really don't have very much positive to say about this stock; technically it looks weak, fundamentally it is weak, and it pays a whopping dividend of $.01 per quarter.  I imagine at some point it will begin to make money again, but if I were investing in Citigroup, I would prefer to wait until it shows some signs of being able to consistently make money again.  Another step in the right direction would be repaying its TARP money to the government.

Of course, short term traders may be able to take some profits from the day to day price swings, but this blog's focus is on buying and holding small quantities of a wide array of stocks.  Therefore, I will leave the in and out quick trades to websites dedicated to that type of trading style.  Again, I am simply giving my insights on the stocks in the Own Every Stock Portfolio.  Please due your own due diligence or contact an investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

Verizon Communications (VZ) was the first stock I added when I started the Own Every Stock Portfolio a couple years ago, and part of the reason was due to its attractive dividend yield.  Over the last month, Verizon's stock has had a nice run moving from 29 to around 33.50.  Even with the recent run up, Verizon currently has one of the best dividend payouts of the 30 stocks within the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Based on its current quarterly dividend of 47.5 cents, Verizon pays out $1.90 per share each year, equating to a dividend yield of 5.7%.  This represents a 137.5% increase from its yearly dividend payout  of $.80 per share, 25 years ago, back in 1984. 

While this is an impressive increase in per share dividends, much of this came from the 14 consecutive dividend increases from 1985 to 1998.  From 1999 to 2006, Verizon only had one dividend increase with a 5.19% hike in 2005.  However, in recent years it appears that Verizon has started to implement yearly dividend increases again with 2010 likely being the 4th year in a row of increasing dividends (based on the announced dividend increase in September of this year).  Here is a chart summarizing Verizon's dividend payout of the past 25 years:

Year	Dividends Paid	Year over Year Increase
1984	$0.80
1985	$0.85	6.25%
1986	$0.90	5.88%
1987	$0.96	6.67%
1988	$1.02	6.25%
1989	$1.10	7.84%
1990	$1.18	7.27%
1991	$1.26	6.78%
1992	$1.30	3.17%
1993	$1.34	3.08%
1994	$1.38	2.99%
1995	$1.40	1.45%
1996	$1.44	2.86%
1997	$1.51	4.86%
1998	$1.54	1.99%
1999	$1.54	0.00%
2000	$1.54	0.00%
2001	$1.54	0.00%
2002	$1.54	0.00%
2003	$1.54	0.00%
2004	$1.54	0.00%
2005	$1.62	5.19%
2006	$1.62	0.00%
2007	$1.67	3.09%
2008	$1.78	6.59%
2009	$1.87	5.06%

Of course, dividends aren't the only criteria when selecting stocks, but over time they do add substantially to a portfolio's overall returns, especially when the dividends are reinvested.  As part of my upcoming posts, I plan to go through my list of stocks in the portfolio and have an entry pertaining to each stock.  Some entries will be about dividends, while other entries will look at fundamental or technical analysis.  Basically it is a good way for me to revisit the stocks in the Own Every Stock Portfolio and hopefully I can provide a little useful information to others along the way.  As is always the case, I am not making any stock recommendations but just providing my opinion (which is worth exactly what you paid for it) and/or historical data on different stocks within my overall portfolio.  Thanks for stopping by, hope you find time to stop by again.

Based on the stocks within the Own Every Stock portfolio, 5 of the 9 major stock sectors now support positive overall returns.  Not surprisingly, the worst performing sector in the portfolio has been the financial sector.  However, I am surprised that the best performing sector for the portfolio has been the health care sector.  Unfortunately, the health care sector only represents 6.50% of the overall portfolio based on today's closing values.  The other positive returning sectors thus far are the conglomerates, utilities, basic materials, and consumer goods sectors.  The technology sector is also very close to breaking into positive territory.  Below is a chart of the overall sector returns based on the stocks within the portfolio.  Keep in mind, these returns are total returns from when the stock was originally added to the portfolio.  The total current value represents the value of the current shares plus dividends received but not reinvested.

Sector	# of Stocks	Amount Invested	Total Current Value	Gain/(Loss)	% Gain/(Loss)
Health Care	7	$572.56	$669.51	$96.95	16.93%
Conglomerates	6	$388.33	$401.38	$13.05	3.36%
Consumer Goods	23	$1672.53	$1711.23	$38.70	2.31%
Utilities	12	$872.19	$887.73	$15.54	1.78%
Basic Materials	17	$1427.20	$1428.93	$1.73	0.12%
Technology	26	$2031.04	$2005.39	($25.64)	(1.26%)
Services	19	$1342.63	$1298.89	($43.74)	(3.26%)
Industrial Goods	11	$833.99	$667.35	($166.64)	(19.98%)
Financials	19	$1553.24	$1224.54	($328.70)	(21.16%)
Other (former GM Stock)	1	$50.54	$2.20	($48.34)	(95.65%)
Totals	141	$10,744.25	$10,297.14	($447.10)	(4.16%)

After determining each sector's current value, I also calculated the percentage each sector represents in the overall Own Every Stock Portfolio. Here is the breakdown of each sector's percentage of the total portfolio based on today's closing prices.

Sector	% of Total Portfolio
Technology	19.39%
Consumer Goods	16.61%
Basic Materials	13.95%
Services	12.65%
Financials	11.83%
Utilities	8.69%
Health Care	6.50%
Industrial Goods	6.47%
Conglomerates	3.90%
Other	0.01%