You can design a stock portfolio that provides income every month of the year. It provides a steady cash stream with a decent yield and potential gains in share price and dividend growth. How to do it: Companies pay stock dividends on a quarterly basis—but not necessarily at the end of the usual calendar quarters. So you can pick a few attractive companies that pay in January and every three months after that…a few that pay in February and every three months after that…and a few that pay in March and every three months after that.

The 27 stocks below have paid dividends reliably, are attractively priced and have the potential for share price gains. Purchased in equal dollar amounts, the stocks offer an annual yield that recently totaled nearly 3% even though the yields ranged from 1.3% for CVS Caremark to 14.6% for Och-Ziff Capital Management.

Dividends in January, April, July, October: AmTrust Financial (AFSI)…Comcast (CMCSA)…Dow Chemical (DOW)…Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB)…JPMorgan Chase (JPM)…Macy’s (M)…Schlumberger (SLB)…UGI (UGI)…Union Pacific (UNP).

February, May, August, November: Alliant Energy (LNT)…AmeriGas Partners (APU)…Apple (AAPL)…Capital One Financial (COF)…CMS Energy (CMS)…CVS Caremark (CVS)…electricity provider Idacorp (IDA)…Och-Ziff Capital Management Group (OZM)…PNM Resources (PNM).

March, June, September, December: Energy provider Avista (AVA)…BlackRock (BLK)…railcar leaser GATX (GMT)…Kroger Co. (KR)…automotive supplier Magna International (MGA)…Norfolk Southern (NSC)…Penske ­Automotive Group (PAG)…Qualcomm (QCOM)…Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC).

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