Weekly Purchase - TGT

5 shares TGT, 2.88% yield, $8.60 annual income
1 share GE, 3.38% yield, $.88 (FRIP purchase from last week)

I'm having difficulty finding places to park new money.  I wanted to pick up additional shares of General Electric and BP, yet prices haven't been cooperating the past couple weeks.  So I went with Target today because I feel it still offers value.  This is my fifth TGT purchase in the past six months or so.  I don't want to rehash reasons why I like the company over and over again.  It's pointless.  However I would note TGT comes standard with a 12.4 forward p/e and trades at a price lower than my fair value calculation.  As a comparison, Morningstar gives it a $65 fair value which is a couple bucks lower than mine.  Anyways the stock offers a nice yield and seems cheap by most measures.

Another nice month for dividend growth investors
Dividend increases just keep on rolling in.  So far in April, 4 companies I own have declared higher dividend rates.  That would be Procter & Gamble (7% raise), Kinder Morgan, Inc. (2.4%), Omega Healthcare Investors (2.0%), and Southern Company (3.4%).  I'm especially pleased to see boosts from KMI and OHI because I wasn't 100% sure those companies would announce raises this quarter.  Before April is in the books I also expect increases from Johnson & Johnson, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron.  April has potential to be another awesome month!

Unilever to start charging fees on plc ADR shares (UL shares)
"With effect from the dividend payable in June 2014 we will be charging an annual fee of $0.02 per PLC ADR share, or $0.005 per share on each of the four quarterly dividends. This fee will offset part of the aggregate costs incurred in the US programme." (taken from Unilever's investor relations website)

Bad news for Unilever plc shareholders in the US.  I haven't seen this reported anywhere else, so I thought I'd bring it to my readers attention.  While I don't like the fee at all, I still plan to continue accumulating UL shares when valuations make sense.

Bank of Nova Scotia ends 2% dividend reinvestment discount
"On March 4, 2014, the Bank announced that there will no longer be a discount from the Average Market Price (as defined in the Plan) applied to purchases of additional common shares with reinvested dividends." (taken from Scotia Bank's investor relations website)

I haven't seen this reported anywhere else either.  BNS was one of two companies I chose to synthetically DRIP, but I no longer have any reason to continue doing so.  Too bad I didn't notice this until now (I've been really busy the past couple months) because it's too late to stop it in time for next week's payment.  I will no longer DRIP BNS starting Q3.