Recent Dividend Increases

 Recently Kroger’s $KR raises the dividend by 11.5%. The yield is 2.5%, PE is 14.46, and the payout ratio is 32.6%.

General Mills’ $GIS raises the dividend by 9.3%. The yield is 2.82%, PE is 18.09, and the payout ratio is 50.94%.

Goldman Sachs raises the dividend by 10%. The FWD yield is 3.1%, PE is 10.65, and the payout ratio is 33.01%. 5 yr CAGR is 26.81%, A great dividend growth company.

Dividends

Dividend Investing

Dividend Stocks

Dividend Income

 

Why you should invest in Dividend Paying Stocks

Photo by Sortter on Unsplash

In this article, I want to show examples of how one can build wealth by investing in dividend-paying stocks over the long term by sharing the dividend income in my portfolio. I started investing in dividend-paying stocks in 2017 with no income from dividends. In 2022, I am earning $2,583 yearly from dividends. How much money am I adding monthly to my portfolio? I invest 10% of my salary in dividend stocks and reinvest all the dividends to buy back the stocks. The best part of dividend stocks is the yearly increase of dividend $ amounts and reinvesting dividends to buy additional stocks of the company’s stock which generates more income from dividends yearly. A good dividend company increases at least 5% dividends a year; some companies with high growth may increase by 20% or more. So on average, a dividend investor can see approximately ~7% increase in income from dividends which must be higher than your 9 to 5 job. To identify a good company that will keep increasing dividends, you must go through the company’s financial health and business model.

Why dividend stocks:

There are several reasons that tell why one should invest in dividend stocks:

• Potential for long-term growth: Many dividend-paying stocks have a history of paying dividends for quite a long time. These companies have already established themselves as a stable and growing company. If one keeps reinvesting the dividends, one can benefit from compounding interest and long-term growth.
• Regular source of income: The potential long-term growth dividend stocks will generate a much higher income in dividends with time which will be an attractive option for investors who are retired or looking for passive income.
• Potential to outperform non-dividend-paying stocks: When we talk about investing for the longer term, it has been found that dividend-paying stocks outperformed non-dividend-paying stocks.

Identifying the stocks:

I follow a few simple steps to identify good dividend-paying stocks that will keep increasing their dividends yearly.

• Consistent in paying and increasing dividends: The first thing I look for in a dividend-paying stock is the company is consistent in paying dividends. A company that pays dividends consistently is more likely to continue paying dividends and keep increasing dividends in the future.
• The dividend yield and payout ratio: The dividend yield and the payout ratio is very important for dividend investors. The dividend yield is the annual dividend per share divided by the stock price and the payout ratio is the percentage of a company’s earnings that are paid out as dividends. I always look for companies that pay a reasonable dividend yield and a payout ratio not higher than 80%.
• PE ratio: Price to earning ratio is also another parameter to look into. It helps to identify if the stock price is fairly valued or not. For dividend investors, this is very important as if you buy at a lower PE ratio then you are buying at a higher yield and you are buying more stocks that will generate more dividend income.
• Company’s financial health: Every investor should read the company’s financial statements that they are invested in. Look for the company’s profitability, debt levels, and cash flow. A company’s financial strength will indicate if it will be able to sustain and increase its dividends over time.
• Company’s business model: Always look at the company’s business model and how it generates revenue. Also, understand the strength of the company’s competitive advantage and its potential for future growth.

The growth: Keep patience and hold your investment for long-term

There are several benefits of holding dividend-paying stocks for the longer term.

• Potential for higher return: This is true for all types of stock investors. Over the long term, the stock market has historically generated higher returns than other asset classes such as bonds and cash. by investing for the long term, the investor can take advantage of these higher potential returns. Picking an excellent growth stock is very important in this case.
• Time to weather market fluctuations: In the short term, the market can be volatile, but over the long term, it tends to go upward. By investing for the long term investors can ride out market fluctuations and potentially get a higher return. Most of the time it also beats inflations.
• The benefit of compounding: In long-term investing in dividend-paying stocks, investors can potentially see the miracle of compounding interest. This is the process where the dividend is reinvested so that the investment earns more dividends from both the original principal and the accumulated dividends. This will help to grow wealth faster over time.

This blog was originally written on Medium by the author.

Monthly Dividend Update - July 2020

 Monthly Dividend Update - July 2020

    Hello everyone, today I am sharing my updated dividend growth portfolio at the end of July 2020. I always keep track of my investment portfolio in google sheet. It helps me to understand my portfolio performance so that I can make the right decision of my trades and in which direction my portfolio is going. I am not investing to retire early that's why I am investing only 10% of my salary for investing. My main investing strategy is to invest in dividend-paying stocks however, I also invest a very small percent paying stocks such as GOOGL, AMZN, TSLA, FB, etc. I also invest in cryptocurrencies mostly Bitcoin and Ethereum. So monthly, 80% of my investment goes to dividend-paying stocks, 10% in non-dividend paying stocks, and 10% in cryptos. All of my investments are for the long term. I don't sell stocks that often. In July, I did not purchase any stocks. I think there will be a drop in the market soon as the election is coming. So its better to pile up cash. I have received only $38 in dividends. The amount dropped due to the selling of my entire JPMorgan (JPM) stocks. JPM is a great stock to hold for longer time but I am thinking its not a good time to hold bank stocks. This month I have received dividends mostly from PPL Corp (PPL), Coca-Cola (KO), and Legget & Platt (LEG). I am currently doing DRIP to all of my positions except for NAT stocks.

    The following chart shows the dividends received monthly from my portfolio. The chart indicates the growth of my monthly dividends with time. If I keep investing in these stocks, my income will only grow with time.

    The following chart compares my monthly dividends on a yearly basis. In the last month, I have received $38 while in the same month in 2019 I received $48. My income dropped in this part of the quarter because I have sold my positions in JPM, IRM, and MPW stocks.  

    

    The next chart shows the total amount of dividends received on a quarterly basis. My previous two years have seen an increase in dividends every quarter. This year it may decrease as I have sold some stocks such as my bank and REIT positions such as BAC, JPM, MPW, and IRM. The companies have started to report their Q2 earnings and the reports are not quite good. However, the market is continuing its bull run resulting very high PE and Payout Ratios. I am expecting a market correction then I will invest a good amount of money in the market.

    On a yield basis, the current yield of my overall portfolio is 2.94% and my yield on cost (YOC) is 4.04%. The YOC is higher than the current yield because the companies in my portfolio increase their dividend payouts on a yearly basis. So for the longer run, the YOC will only keep going up unless any company cut their dividends. 

    From the following curve, we can see a comparison of the current yield vs. the YOC and it is clear that the YOC is slowly increasing with time.

    The chart below shows the average dividend income received monthly and the average amount of dividends received monthly. I am slowly increasing my passive income and if I continue to invest in the dividend-paying stocks it will only grow with time.

    The chart and table below summarize my dividend distribution in the portfolio. The most percentages of dividends I am receiving are from Abbvie (ABBV), At&t (T), and 3M (MMM). They are the source of almost 30% of my total dividend income. I have to diversify my position that's why I will not add any more stocks into these three companies. 

    The following treemap shows the dividends I am receiving from individual stocks and also compares between the sectors. I am getting the highest amount of dividends from the health sector followed by the industrial sector and consumer cyclical.

    The following table shows the dividends that I received from my positions in each month. This chart is very helpful to track my monthly income through dividends.

    The next table shows the total amount of dividends received in 2020 from my stocks positions. In July I have received $38 and so far in 2020, I have received $617 in dividends.

    The next table shows my dividend growth performance in the year. Out of my 34 stocks 18 of them increased dividends, 4 of them did not raise any dividends, and only BP cut their dividends by half. They raised the dividends in Match however, due to the pandemic they are forced to cut the dividend to half.

Portfolio Update August 2019

My portfolio update in August 2019

Today I am updating and sharing my portfolio for the month of August 2019. I am a little bit late of updating my portfolio this month. All the prices in the blog are based on September 1st, 2019. Currently, I am holding 29 stocks. This month I have added Exxon Mobil (XOM) for the first time. The price of the stock dropped to $66 and I couldn't resist myself to initiate my position into this company. My yield on cost (YOC) is 5.82% and my average cost is $67.2. Other than that I have also added Abbvie(ABBV), Emerson Electric(EMR), 3M (MMM), Kraft & Heinz(KHC), Pfizer (PFE), Albemarle (ALB), and Johnsson & Johnsson(JNJ) stocks. I have also sold half of my positions of Comcast (CMCSA), Master Card(MA), Visa(V), and Honeywell(HON). The reason I sold these stocks because I am preparing for recession and I have decided to buy only high dividend-paying stocks. MA, V, and HON are quite expensive right now that's I sold half of them and currently holding cash.

Below is the pie chart of my portfolio diversity based on sectors from Morningstar. last month I have added mostly in the health and the industry sectors. In the coming month, I am planning to add a utility stock in my portfolio. Unfortunately, most of the utility stocks are expensive. This month my holdings in the financial sector dropped from 23% to 17% due to the selling of MA and V.

The chart below shows my portfolio diversity and you can see that Apple(AAPL), Home Depot(HD), and JP Morgan(JPM) are my majority holdings. 

The plot below shows my projected annual income in terms of dividends. On August 31st my projected income through dividend was $1010.42. I have set my target to earn $100 per month through dividends which is $1200 per year. In the previous month, my yearly income was $955.32. So in one month, my income increased  $55.1 which is 5.76% increase in one month.

The current yield of my portfolio is 3.12% and the yield on cost (YOC) is 3.51% which has a healthy increase compared to the YOC of last month (3.3%).

The figure below shows the comparison of my current yield and YOC with time. The curve shows that my YOC is higher than my current yield. Current yield depends on the dividend rises or drops and also on the bear or bull market. If the market is in bull mode then the yield will drop and in the bear market the yield goes up. The yield on cost depends on the dividend rise and cut. So for long term scale YOC will gain and goes well above the current yield. 

My projected annual income through dividends with time is shown in the following chart. My income is growing every month.

The table below shows the dividends that I received in the month of August 2019. My month was mainly dominated by the divies from ABBV and T.

The following chart summarizes the performance of my stocks. The prices are based on August 31st 2019. So the prices will not be accurate with the current market price. From the chart you will see my biggest gained stocks are Mastercard(MA), Visa(V), Microsoft(MSFT), and Procter and Gamble (PG). My lossing stocks are Kraft & Heinz (KHC), Abbvie (ABBV), and Albemarle (ALB).

Stocks bought and sold in August 2019

In August 2019, I have sold some of my low yield stocks. I am preparing myself for recession and I have decided to lower my positions in low yiled dividend stocks and investing in high yield stocks so that I can get some appreciation when the market will be down. Below is the chart which shows the stocks that I sold. I made my position to half for the stocks below.

I am long with HON, MA, and V. However, the prices are quite high now so if any recession comes by next year they will drop a lot. I will then take the opportunity to add more MA, V, and HON. I have took a good profit from these stocks. 

I have added a few stocks which are really in good discount and also pay dividends with high yields. I have purchased MMM, ABBV, PFE, JNJ, EMR, KHC, and ALB stocks. This month I have initiated my position in Exxon Mobil (XOM) for the first time.

My dividends reduced $36.4 due to the selling of those stocks. However, I increased my dividends $84.7 from purchasing new stocks in August 2019.

I have increased $28 and $16 by adding MMM and KHC respectively.

My Dividend Growth Investing Update for December 2018

Portfolio Update - January 2019

Today I am sharing my long-term dividend growth portfolio at the beginning of January 2019. I am new in investing with very little experience. I have started investing last year in June 2018. Since then I am investing in dividend paying companies who have records of increasing dividends yearly. I am collecting the dividends and reinvesting them in purchasing stocks. My main trading platform is Robinhood. However, in future, I have a plan to move to a well-established brokerage. Because I am new in this area any suggestion from you will be helpful for me. Initially, I invested in some stocks without going into deep so that's why I am balancing my portfolio by selling those stocks. below is my current portfolio:

Portfolio Breakdown:

The following pie chart shows the breakdown of my stocks allocation by sector based on Morningstar. The pie chart shows that my highest investment is in the financial sector (26%) followed by the consumer sector with 23%. My third biggest holdings are in the Technology sector (16%) which is followed by Healthcare (12%), Industrial (9%), and in the Communication sector (8%). I have invested a small percentage in Basic materials, Real Estate, and in the Energy sector with each around 2 to 3%.

Portfolio Performance Comparison:

My portfolio performances compared to the Morningstar US Market Index and S & P 500 TR index are shown in the following figures. The comparison charts show that my portfolio suffered 9.58% loss while Morningstar US Market and S & P 500 lost 9.4 and 9.03% respectively. My portfolio performed slightly lower than the two indexes. 

                                                                                                                        Source: Morningstar

Dividend Meter:

In December, my projected annual dividend increased from $773 to $846. I have purchased shares of Apple, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Main Street Capital, Gladstone Investment, and The Kraft and Heinz. 

Prepared using Google Sheet

My forward yield is 3.06 while my Yield of Cost is 2.94. Because of the market crash in December, my forward yield is higher than the YOC. 

Prepared using Google Sheet

Dividend Growth Performance:

The charts below show the history of my monthly dividends received since I started to invest. December 2019 is my highest payments through dividends. I have received $82 in dividends. Last year during the same month I received only $5. In the beginning, I invested in non-dividend stocks such as Micron, Paypal, Facebook, Alibaba, JD etc. That's why my dividends were low. But I have changed my mind to invest in long-term dividend growth stocks.

This graph shows my projected annual dividend income.

Stocks Purchased in December:

In December, I purchased Apple stocks at $149.52 on 24th December 2018. I also purchased Bank of America at $23.6, JP Morgan Chase at $96.32, Main Street Capital at $33.96, The Kraft and Heinz at $49.52, and Gladstone Capital at $8.92.

Stocks Sold in December:

In this month I have sold all of my positions in Cypress Semiconductors (CY) and Ally Financial (ALLY).

My Watchlist:

I don't have any utility stocks in my portfolio. So I am planning to add 1 or 2 utility stocks. I am closely watching Southern Corp (SO) and NextEra Energy (NEE). I am also planning to add my position in Johnsson and Johnsson (JNJ) and Microsoft (MSFT) in this month. My target price for JNJ is $120 and for Microsoft $90. I am also watching PepsiCo (PEP). I am planning to add my position in PEP around $100.

My Dividend Growth Portfolio Update - November 2018

Dividend Growth Update - November 2018

I am sharing my dividend growth portfolio at the beginning of December 2018. Since then I have gradually invested in stocks which have proven records of paying dividends and most of them increase their dividends yearly. I am reinvesting all the dividends. My main trading platform is Robinhood. You can join for free and if you sign up following the link both you and me will get a free share. In my first referral, I received one JP Morgan Chase stock (Ticker: JPM). Below is my current portfolio holdings:

Portfolio Breakdown:

The following pie chart shows the breakdown of my stocks allocation by sector. I have chosen the sectors from Morningstar. The pie chart shows that my most investment is in the financial sector (25%), then the second majority is in the consumer sector with 24%. My third biggest is in the Technology sector (13%) which is followed by Healthcare (12%), Industrial (10%), and in the Communication sector (9%). I have invested a small percentage in Basic materials, Real Estate, and in the Energy sector with each around 2 to 3%.

Portfolio Performance Comparison:

My portfolio performances compared to Morning Star US Market Index fund in the following figure. The comparison shows that the performance is better than the index fund.

The following figure compares my portfolio with S & P 500 TR. The figure shows that my performance is exactly the same in the month of November 2018.

Source: Morning Star

Dividend Performance:

The chart below shows the performance of my dividends received from my holdings.

Source: Morningstar and Seeking Alpha

Dividend Meter:

In this month my annual dividend income decreased a little bit because I have sold some dividend shares and holding cash in order to buy some great dividend stocks with a big discount. The market was crashing in November especially tech stocks so I decided to lower my position in Western Digital (WDC) and Cypress Semiconductor (CY). Although I doubled my Apple (AAPL) position in this month. So my current annual dividend income is 773$ and my target is to get 70,000$ annually. Still, a long way to go. As I am young, I have a lot of time left to achieve this goal.

 Dividend Meter prepared using Google Sheet

My current yield is not that high. I believe that I should move it to 3%. However, I am planning to increase my yield on cost (YOC). That's why I have purchased some low yield stocks who has lots of potentials to grow the dividends. These stocks are Mastercard (MA), Visa (V), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Southwest Airlines (LUV) etc. These stocks recently raised their dividends really aggressively. Thinking about long-term, I really have a great chance to raise my YOC.

Company Performance:

The table summarizes the performances of my stocks those I am currently holding. I am observing Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Ally Financial (ALLY). I am not interested to hold them for long term. I will sell them when the market is bullish mode. 

Source: Morningstar & Seeking Alpha

Stocks Sold in November:

I sold some tech stocks in November. I sold 50% of my investment in Cypress Semiconductors (CY) and Western Digital (WDC). I have also sold all of my General Electric (GE) shares. I suffered 52% loss in GE. My worst investment ever.

Stocks Bought in November:

With that money that I got from selling, reinvested again in Apple (AAPL). I doubled my holdings in AAPL. I also initiate investing in Cedar Fair (FUN). In the coming months I am planning to invest in The Kraft & Heinz (KHC) and in JP Morgan (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC).