MONTHLY DIVIDEND STOCK: GAS NATURAL, INC. (EGAS:NYSE)

All of the monthly dividend payers I currently hold in my portfolio are bond or stock funds.  I did some research into stocks paying monthly dividends, ruling out energy trusts, REIT's and investment trusts which I prefer to avoid.  I came up with one promising candidate.

Gas Natural, Inc.  (EGAS:NYSE)  EGAS  currently pays a 5 cent per share monthly dividend for an annual yield of 4.64% on the recent price per share of $11.82.  They have a P/E of 20.0 and their payout ratio is 58%.  The company's 2013 earnings of 71 cents per share easily covered the dividends.  

EGAS distributes and sell natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Montana, Wyoming, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine and North Carolina.  They have majority ownership interest in many natural gas producing wells and gas gathering assets.  They also own gas pipelines in Montana and Wyoming.  

While growth in share price and earnings over the past few years might not seem so attractive when compared to overall growth of the S&P 500, EGAS has held up better during past market downturns providing some protection in case of such an eventuality.  All things considered, EGAS could be a good addition to my long term holdings, providing 12 additional dividend payments per year.  Of course since I'm limiting my current portfolio to 20 stocks, I'm considering replacing one of my bond funds with EGAS.