Stock Sold

Noob Here! I’m back with my dividend portfolio update for February 2020.

The stock market took an 11% hit in the last week of February due to rising fears of the global Coronavirus. Before we go on with the portfolio update, I want to go ahead and say my heart goes out to all those who have been affected by the Coronavirus. So please be safe out there.

While the market was continuing to hit all-time highs and plenty of analysts and firms were talking about a big correction happening, it looks like the global Coronavirus was the final tipping point as stocks went crashing down. Thankfully, I was able to put new funds into my account for the first time in what feels like forever.

There is some good buying opportunities out there. But first I want to tell everybody: Do not fear the down days! A high portfolio value is not our end goal here. Let the markets go down. We’re here for the long term. If the stock market continues to go lower? Well that’s okay too. We can buy our favorite stocks at even better prices! We are looking for high yield on costs and lower stock prices will help with that!

On to the update.

Summary

• $372.05 in dividends for the month of February.
• I added +$213.34 to my annual income.
• Sold 1 stock and lowered my annual income by $88.32.

Beginning Balance: $116,399.20
End Balance: $107,814.27
Change: -7.3%

Account Deposits
And we’re back in action. I was able to add $2,000 to the portfolio at the end of the month.

Total: +$2,000.

Dividend Payouts

Last year in February, my dividend payouts equaled $324.74. If we compare it to this month’s value of $372.05; my February payout has increased by 14.5%! This is excellent growth!

Purchases
It feels good to be buying again! One new position and I nibbled a few others that I’m not too proud of.

• Bought 19 XOM @ 60.80
  Oil continues to get hit hard and there are some good plays out there if you’re okay with handling the volatility of it. XOM is sporting a 6.9% dividend yield and has been increasing dividends for 37 years. This adds +$66.12 to my annual income!
• Bought 10 MDP @ 32.25, 10 @ 28.75
  Meredith Corporation is a Local and National diversified media company. It’s currently providing an 8.7% dividend yield and has a dividend streak of 27 years! It currently sits at a payout ratio of 35% with a 5-year dividend growth rate of 5.8%. This adds +$47.60 to my annual income!
• Bought 25 WFC @ 46.40, 5 @ 43.00
  This is a new position. Wells Fargo is well known in the financial sector and should need no introduction. It’s currently yielding 4.8% with a dividend growth streak of 9 years. It’s also been in the news lately because Warren Buffett is selling. That’s okay though, I’ll buy it. This adds +$61.20 to my annual income!
• Bought 2 WBA @ 47.20
  I’m nibbling a few shares of Walgreens to help with the cost averaging since I got in way too high. That’s okay though because WBA is yielding 3.9% and has been increasing dividends for a staggering 43 years! This adds +$3.66 to my annual income!
• Bought 3 MO @ 41.20
  Perhaps my favorite sin stock that’s been beaten down due to market resentment for their fiasco with buying a stake in JUUL. This tobacco stock is looking amazing at these levels. It has an 8.3% dividend yield, a 10.4% 5-year dividend growth rate, and a healthy 76% payout ratio. Oh, and also they’ve been increasing their dividend for 50 years! I’m getting pretty heavy on MO but it’s just too tempting at this price. This adds +$10.08 to my annual income!
• Bought 15 F @ 7.00
  Another one of my darlings that I just don’t want to let go of. Let’s face it, you either love or hate the Ford Motor Company. The share price hasn’t gone anywhere, they no longer are doing their supplemental income, and to top it all off it looks like they are spending big dollars to revamp their whole lineup. Everybody says their dividend is safe but it’s not growing anytime soon. That’s okay because it has an 8.6% dividend yield to hold you over. Ford was also one of the first stocks I ever bought so I’m partial to it. This adds +$9.00 to my annual income!
• Bought  1 GE @ 13
  I’m glutton for punishment. I decided to just buy a share a month to lower my cost average. I believe Larry Culp can turn it all around but it will probably take a long time. This is the dumbest thing I probably spent money on.  This adds +$0.04 to my annual income!

Total = +$197.70 added to my annual income!

DRIPS
I believe the only time someone can say that they love the DRIPs is when it comes to dividend growth investing. DRIP has a powerful snowball effect on your portfolio and should not be overlooked. The beautiful thing about it is that it’s passive and doesn’t require any thought. So it’s perfect for a Noob like me.

• Bought 1 WRK @ 33.8621
  This adds +$1.86 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.208 SBUX @ 85.2396
  This adds +$0.33 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.19 PG @ 126.0943
  This adds +$0.56 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.574 ABBV @ 93.668
  This adds +$2.70 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.27 MAIN @ 44.8548
  This adds +$0.66 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.17 O @ 80.0787
  This adds +$0.47 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.048 AAPL @ 324.9763
  This adds +$0.12 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.041 LOW @ 122.3237
  This adds +$0.08 to my annual income.
• Bought 2.122 T @ 37.4757
  This adds +$4.40 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.437 VZ @ 58.2984
  This adds +$1.07 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.407 CVS @ 68.0228
  This adds +$0.81 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.631 GIS @ 53.3249
  This adds +$1.23 to my annual income.
• Bought 1.036 CLDT @ 16.5603
  This adds +$1.35 to my annual income.

Total = +$15.64 added to my annual income!

Sells

• Sold 46 STWD @25.90
  I wanted to sell out of STWD for a while now and finally decided to pull the trigger. I’m glad I sold it at the time I did. This lowers my annual income by -$88.32.

Summary

Who knows what the future holds for the market. All I know is that I like to buy good quality dividend growth stocks (with a few not so quality this month). So I’m okay with buying them when prices go up and definitely when they go down!

If you’re curious about my entire dividend growth portfolio—check it out here.

Thanks for reading everybody! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below. See you next month!

It’s a new year and already my dividend growth portfolio is hard at work making me money. I have been very hands off of my portfolio for the last several months. But that’s also the beauty of dividend growth investing. Even though I did not add any significant funds to it, it continued to grow by itself. The dividend reinvestment did it’s job and took care of everything for me. My advice to any new dividend growth investors out there is to buy quality companies and let them do their thing. I never onced worried about my portfolio while I was predisposed.

January is a very typical month for me in terms of dividend payouts. Next month I plan on giving the portfolio a much needed injection of capital. It’s been too long since I bought anything substantial.

On to the update!

Summary

• $250.64 in dividends for the month of January.
• I added +$16.53 to my annual income.

Beginning Balance: $118,981.85
End Balance: $116,150.70
Change: -2.4%

Account Deposits
No deposits for the month of January. All stock purchases were done through DRIPs or leftover funds.

Total: +0.00

Dividend Payouts

Another great thing I like to do is to look back and compare the dividend payout amount versus the previous year. I love seeing it grow year over year. If we take my January 2019 value of $215.81 and compare it to $250.64; my January payout has increased by 16%!

Purchases

• Bought 1 WRK @ 38.91
  Westrock Company is a multinational provider of paper packaging solutions. It’s currently providing a 4.7% dividend yield and has a dividend streak of 4 years. It currently sits at a payout ratio of 56% with a 3-year dividend growth rate of 8%. This adds +$1.86 to my annual income.
• Bought 2 MDP @ 31.45
  Meredith Corporation is a Local and National diversified media company. It’s currently providing a 7.6% dividend yield and has a dividend streak of 26 years! It currently sits at a payout ratio of 35% with a 5-year dividend growth rate of 5.8%. This adds +$4.60 to my annual income.

DRIPS

We now live in a world of free trades and fractional investing. So some people believe there is less value in Automatic Dividend Reinvestment. I can understand what they are saying but I don’t want to penalized my stocks for doing good. With that being said, I do have a few stocks with DRIP turned off. I take that capital and allocate it where I see fit. But I love that the majority of my portfolio is automatic. It definitely takes a heavy load off my shoulders.

• Bought 0.447 CPB @ 48.9276
  This adds +$0.62 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.438 OZK @ 27.553
  This adds +$0.42 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.136 CSCO @ 48.9151
  This adds +$0.19 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.174 O @ 76.2358
  This adds +$0.48 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.268 MAIN @ 44.8377
  This adds +$0.65 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.651 CAH @ 53.9589
  This adds +$1.24 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.168 NGG @ 57.351
  This adds +$0.51 to my annual income.
• Bought 1.521 MO @ 50.8146
  This adds +$5.11 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.136 MRK @ 89.5804
  This adds +$0.33 to my annual income.
• Bought 0.199 EMN @ 76.2339
  This adds +$0.52 to my annual income.

Total = +$10.07 added to my annual income!

Sells

None.

Summary

It’s easy to look at my previous month of high dividend payout and not be as excited that January is less than half. I am entirely grateful to be able to invest in high quality companies. I don’t look to even out my dividend income on a per-month basis. I like buying great companies at fair prices. Whenever they pay out is fine by me. Of course, I’m not using the dividend payouts for income just yet, so I can allow my shares to grow over time.

If you’re curious about my entire dividend growth portfolio—check it out here.

Thanks for reading everybody! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below. See you next month!

The holiday seasons are upon us and I hope everybody had a good and hearty Thanksgiving meal. I hope the best for you and your family in the upcoming new year. May everybody stay healthy and your dividend portfolios continue to bring joy :).

Nothing too exciting with the portfolio this past month. Well, I shouldn’t say that exactly. This was the first full month of having DRIP activated on my portfolio and it was great seeing my high-quality dividend growth stocks automatically increase themselves. I’m still in the process of bringing my emergency fund back up to its normal amount after a few months of unexpected costs.

Summary

• $293.56 in dividends for the month of November.
• I added $168.68 to my annual income.

Account Deposits
No deposits for the month of November. All stock purchases were done with cash in the account or through DRIPs.

Total: +0.00

Dividend Payouts

Added +$293.56 to my account.

Purchases

• 5 shares of MO @ $45.15
  Altria continues to be priced at a good value. The dividend yield is touching at 7% and there’s been a sprinkle of good news in the swarm of bad lately. But if you’re okay with riding the waves and buying the low tranches, this is still worthy of a spot in the portfolio. This adds +$16.80 to my annual income.
• 3 shares of IBM@$136.30
  IBM has its fair share of headwinds and issues that it needs to figure out but I’m okay with sticking it out at the current evaluation. This adds +$19.44 to my annual income.
• 35 shares of MDP@ $35.25
  A new position to the portfolio. MDP is one of the more interesting companies in my portfolio. They are a diversified media company that operates in Local Media and National Media segments. Primarily their money has been in magazine publishing but they are making moves towards marketing in digital and mobile media, as well as owning television stations.  This adds +$80.50 to my annual income.
• 2 shares of MMM@ $169.75, 5 shares @ $166.50
  This adds +$40.32 to my annual income.

Total = +$157.06 added to my annual income!

DRIPS

A full month of DRIP’s this time and I couldn’t be more happy. Here’s a quick rundown of them all.

• 0.649 GIS @ 51.321
  This adds ~$1.27 to my annual income.
• 0.419 VZ @ 60.2188
  This adds ~$1.03 to my annual income.
• 1.967 T @ 39.1555
  This adds ~$4.01 to my annual income.
• 0.405 CVS @ 67.8911
  This adds ~$0.81 to my annual income.
• 0.044 LOW @ 113.4799
  This adds ~$0.09 to my annual income.
• 0.058 AAPL @ 264.0599
  This adds ~$0.17 to my annual income.
• 0.276 MAIN @ 43.1038
  This adds ~$0.67 to my annual income.
•  0.167 O @ 78.6947
  This adds ~$0.45 to my annual income.
• 0.54 ABBV @ 89.1165
  This adds ~$2.54 to my annual income.
• 0.196 PG @ 122.0296
  This adds ~$0.58 to my annual income.

Total = +$11.62 added to my annual income!

Sells

I mentioned last month in my dividend portfolio update that I was debating on selling my shares of $PZZA. I definitely weighed the pros and cons and decided to sell.

• Sold 24 shares of PZZA @ $60.00.

Summary

Just seeing the DRIP section of my update makes me happy. As of today, I have every stock in my portfolio DRIPing. Not sure if I will keep it like that but I want to bask in its glory for as long as I can. Hopefully, everything gets back to normal for me financially and I can continue to add more funds to my dividend growth portfolio.

Thanks for reading everybody! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below.