First dividend raises for 2022 (AFL, MRK, BMY, O)

In the last few weeks I received several raises that boost my dividend income! I did not report these in my last "Dividend raises" article because these raises will start having an impact in 2022. So let's see who decided to give me more money and how much!

• On November 15th Aflac (AFL) announced the first quarter dividend of $0,40 per share, payable on March 1, 2022. This represents a monstrous 21,2% increase over the previously declared fourth quarter dividend. This raise will add € 20 to my dividend income!
• On December 4th Merck (MRK) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend to $0,69. This raise is about 6% compared to the previous dividend. Given its current yield of 3,6% this is a decent raise.
• On December 10th Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) announced a dividend raise of 10%. Its new quarterly dividend will be $0,54 per share.
• On December15th Realty Income announced an increase in the company's common stock monthly cash dividend to $0.2465 per share from $0.246 per share.

All the raises combined will deliver an annual income boost of almost € 35 in 2022 (and hopefully more after 2022!). That's a solid start of the year, even though the year technically didn't start yet...

 

Dividend raise: Union Pacific (UNP)

I am a bit behind with my updates on dividend raises I received in the last few weeks. I received my last raise in 2021 (and in a next post I will show my first raises of 2022).

On December 10th Union Pacific Corporation (UNP) announced that it will increase its quarterly dividend by 10% to $1.18 per share. The dividend is payable December 30, 2021, to shareholders of record December. This raise adds almost €6 per year. With this raise my original dividend is doubled compared to my first dividend back in 2015 when I bought this stock. During my holding period of 6,5 years the dividend has grown with 12% per year. That's compounding right there!

All the raises in 2021 combined delivered an annual income boost of just over € 200. The biggest contributors are BBL (with a double raise) and RDS. DUring the last half of the year I've added some decent dividend companies to my roster (V, CMI, BMY, MRK) so I expect this list to be bigger next year! 

Recent buy: Visa (V)

Two weeks ago I opened a new position in Visa (ticker: V). I comtemplated buying Visa back in 2014 but decided to purchase Aflac instead. The times I reviewed Visa thereafter I found the stick to be too expensive. In hindsight I should have just pulled the trigger, but I guess hindsight is always 20-20.

For now I purchased 10 shares for $195 per share. This purchase will add $15 to my annual dividend income. Not too much current income but hopefully this position will continue to grow its dividend at a high pace.

Dividend report: November 2021

November is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

A total of almost € 170. Seven companies paid me dividends. The dividend income almost doubled compared to last year. Deere's dividend grew nicely at the back of two monster increases this year. Also It was also my first November payment for me relatively new position of BMY. However, most of the growth in income is attributed to two spin-offs I recevved last month. The first is Kyndryl which is a spin-off from IBM. I received 1 share of the new company and some cash. The second was Orion Office REIT. The move comes as part of Realty Income's merger with VEREIT, Inc. and its plan of the subsequent spin-off of all the office assets from Realty Income and VEREIT into a new independent publicly traded REIT. I received two shares and some cash. 

In the graph below I showed my cumulative dividend income till the end of November. Only 1 month to go in this year!

So far I am about 65% ahead compared to the dividend I received last year at this time in the year. Currently my annual dividend income is around € 2.910.

How was your November? What is your watchlist?

Recent buys: Brink and INTC

I haven't been active with my posts last weeks. However I did invest additional money in some of my companies.

On November 11th I purchased 40 additional shares in the company I work for (Brink). I have the option to purchase share once per year. Last year I purchased 20 shares and I explained a bit about how it works. This new purchase adds about € 400 in dividend income per year. I now have a position of exactly 100 shares and it's the biggest position in my portfolio. Hopefully I can add a lot of new money in other positions to keep the position of Brink in my portfolio somewhat in line with the other companies in my portfolio.

On November 17th I purchased 27 additionial shares of Intel (INTC) for about $50 per share. I bought my first shares of INTC back in 2013, so that's more than 8 years ag! At that time shares were priced $24 with a dividiend yield of 3.8%. The currency neutral total return for this batch until now is about 12% per year, so I have nothing to complain about. Dividend growth is around 5% and since that time I have received about 40% of my original purchase price in dividends. INTC's price has been somewhat flat last year, while the market has gone up about 20% (and some other companies a lot more!). I thought it would be a nice moment to add to my existing position. This purchase adds about € 35 in annual dividend income.

With these purchase (and recent dividend increases) my forward annual dividend income is now just over € 2.900. Hopefully I can reach that milestone of € 3.000 before the end of the year!

Recent dividend raises

I am a bit behind with my updates on dividend raises I received in the last few weeks (or months?!). However I did receive some nice raises.

• On August 25 Deere (DE) declared an increased quarterly dividend of $1.05 per share.
• On September 15 PM increased the company's regular quarterly dividend by 4.2% to an annualized rate of $5.00 per share. The new quarterly dividend is $1.25 per share, up from $1.20 per share.
• On October 29 Exxon Mobil (XOM) declared a quarterly dividend of 88 cents a share, up by a penny or about 1%.
• On November 16 Realty Income announced an increase in the company's common stock monthly cash dividend to $0.246 per share from $0.236 per share.

All the raises in 2021 combined delivered an annual income boost of almost € 200. 

Dividend report: October 2021

October is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

A total of just under € 70. Six companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by just over 60% compared to last year. Most of the increase was due to my new position in Merck. I purchased share earlier in June and August.

So far I am about 60% ahead compared to the dividend I received last year at this time in the year. Currently my annual dividend income is around € 2.510.

The market has had a nice run-up last month. Biggest contributor in my portfolio is UNP with an increase of almost 20% last month. Various companies increased by about 10% (TROW, BEP, WMT, O, MRK). Worst performers are IBM (-13%) and INTC (-9%). We'll see what happens in the markets in the coming weeks!

How was your October? What is your watchlist?

Dividend report: September 2021

September is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

A total of more than € 300! Fifteen companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by about 75% compared to last year. BBL made a big impact with its recent dividend payment (I have not even reported it on this blog) but also dividend raised and increased positions in Unilever, Shell, Aflac, TROW, UNP and BIP made a real change.

So far I am about 60% ahead compared to the dividend I received last year at this time in the year. Currently my annual dividend income is around € 2.510.

The market has corrected slightly during the last month. I see a lot of companies in the 'red' last month. BBL corrected 18%, and various other companies about 10% (OHI, DE, TROW, O, BMY). That might provide some buying opportunities if this trend continues. We'll see what happens in the markets in the coming weeks!

How was your September? What is your watchlist?

Recent buys: BIP, MRK, CMI & BEP

I haven't been active with my posts last weeks. However I did have some purchases in my brokerage account. So what did I buy?

• On 9 July I purchased 28 shares of BIP for $ 56,04 per share. This new purchase adds around $57 to my annual forward dividend income. My total position is now 60 shares, which makes it an above average position in terms of portfolio weight.
• On 25 August I purchased 27 shares of MRK for $ 76,90 per share. This new purchase adds around $70 to my annual forward dividend income. My total position is now 50 shares, which makes it an above average position in terms of portfolio weight.
• On 22 September I started a new position in CMI. I purchased 10 shares of CMI for $ 223,24 per share. This new purchase adds around $58 to my annual forward dividend income.
• On 6 October I purchased 38 shares of BEP for $ 35,61 per share. This new purchase adds around $46 to my annual forward dividend income. My total position is now 50 shares, which makes it an above average position in terms of portfolio weight.

With this purchases my annual forward dividend income grew by € 200 from to more than € 2.500. Therefore I reached the milestone of more than €200 in dividend income per month. Let's rock on!

Dividend report: August 2021

August is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

A total of just over € 100! Six companies paid me dividends. Deere announced a dividend increase earlier this year. A few days ago they announced a 2nd increase, but more on that later! The rest of the year-over-year dividend increases are small or nonexistent. The rest of the growth in income is due to a relatively new position in Bristol-Meyers Squib. The dividend income increased by about 20% compared to last year.

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 2.320. I do find it somewhat hard to find a good candidate for my purchase(s) during the next month. We'll see what happens in the markets in the coming weeks!

How was your August? What is your watchlist?

Dividend raise: Royal Dutch Shell (+40%)

Last year Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) slashed their dividend with 66%. This was an unprecedented move for the company but I guess they didn't have any other option. Oil prices were low already due to the geopolitical struggles between big oil producing countries. Then COVID-19 entered our world which lowered demand drastically. This perfect storm (or black swan) was just too much.

However since 2020 the price of oil has risen from $20 to about $70. RDS raised their dividend earlier this year with about 4%. Their recent earnings report showed a lot of positive signs. Adjusted Earnings for the quarter were $5.5 billion and cash flow from operating activities for the second quarter 2021 was $12.6 billion. According to their press release: "At the end of the second quarter 2021, net debt was $65.7 billion, compared with $71.3 billion at the end of the first quarter 2021, mainly driven by free cash flow generation in the quarter. Gearing was 27.7% at the end of the second quarter 2021, compared with 29.9% at the end of the first quarter 2021, mainly driven by net debt reduction and improved earnings.".

Finally Royal Dutch Shell decided to increase their shareholder distribution with almost 40% to $0.24 per share. This raise adds about € 30 to my annual dividend income (before tax). All of the 2021 dividend raises combined result in an increase of €110 to my annual dividend income. Awesome! 

Dividend report: July 2021

July is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

A total of more than € 100! Seven companies paid me dividends, including a one time special dividend from TROW. Regular year-over-year dividend increases are rather small. Most of the growth in income is due to relatively new positions in Cisco and Merck. The dividend income increased by about 250% compared to last year. Without the one time special dividend from TROW, the increase was still more than 60% so nothing to worry.

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 2.280. I do find it somewhat hard to find a good candidate for my purchase(s) during the next month. We'll see what happens in the markets in the coming weeks!

How was your July? What is your watchlist?

Dividend report: June 2021

June is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

Wow, a total of € 330! 14 companies paid me dividends, with my first ever payment from BIP in the month of June. Higher dividends from Unilever due to an increased position. Big dividend increases from Aflac, TROW, UNP and BEP. But most importantly a 2nd dividend payment (€ 3 per share) from my own employer, Brink. This year I received € 13 per share in dividens, based on a price of € 81 on my last purchase. A whopping dividend yield of 16%, which is slightly higher than usual due to a dividend delay in 2020 due to COVID-19. Based on a constant exchange rate my dividend income grew by almost 130% compared to last year. However, because of the decline in the FX-rate the rise in dividend income is about 122% compared to last year. Even without the extra Brink dividend payment the growth would have been about 20% compared to last year, so still solid.

The market value of my portfolio surpassed the € 60k milestone last week. I might write a little post on that later. Currently my annual dividend income is around € 2.180. I do find it somewhat hard to find a good candidate for my purchase(s) during the next month. We'll see what happens in the markets in the coming weeks!

How was your June? What is your watchlist?

Recent buys: Bristol-Myers Squibb & Merck

Last week I added to a existing position and started a new one. My watchlist was somewhat focused on healthcare/pharma companies. I wanted to strengthen the healthcare part of my portfolio. I only held JNJ, Baxter and BMY and it was a relatively smaller part of my portfolio (about 7% of my total portfolio). I contemplated starting a position in LMT, but wasn't convinced yet. I need to do some more work on that.

So what did I buy?

• 18 shares of BMY for $ 65,24 per share. This new purchase adds around $35 to my annual forward dividend income. My total position is now 40 shares, which makes it an average position in terms of portfolio weight.
• 23 shares of MRK for $ 73,23 per share. This new purchase adds around $60 to my annual forward dividend income.

Last year I started my position in Bristol-Myers Squibb. Based on various valuation and dividend metrics Merck seemed like a nice addition to my portfolio as well. I decided to just buy both!

With this purchases my healthcare related stocks are about 10% of my portfolio and my annual forward dividend income grew by € 80 from € 2.070 to € 2.150. The next milestones are € 2.400 in annual income (€200 per month!) and € 60.000,- in portfolio value. The last one is actually rather close. If the markets don't tumble in the coming month I expect to reach this by the end of this month. Let's rock on!

Dividend report: May 2021

May is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

A total of just under € 100. Six companies paid me dividends with my first ever payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb in the month of May. A big raise from Deere, while the rest of my holdings increased their dividend slightly compared to last year. Based on a constant exchange rate my dividend income grew by just over 11% compared to last year. However, because of the decline in the FX-rate I received about the same in Euros.

Currently my dividend income is around € 2.060.  I have about 3% in cash, with more deposits on the way. I am looking to start a new position or to add to my current positions. I do find it somewhat hard to find a good candidate. I kinda missed the INTC drop in the last two weeks, could have used the dip to increase my position slightly. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks!

How was your May? What is your watchlist?

Dividend raise: Union Pacific (+10%)

Yesterdag Union Pacific (UNP) declared a $1,07 quarterly dividend, which is a 10% increase from its prior quarterly dividend of $0.97. Since I own 15 shares of UNP this raise adds about € 5 to my forward annual dividend income. This is a really solid dividend increase in my book! The last time they raised their dividend was back in the summer of 2019.

I purchased my shares about 6 years ago for $108 a piece. Currently they are worth around $228, so that's roughly an 13% annual rate of return, based just on the price appreciation alone.

In the past years I've received about 15% of my original purchase price in dividends. The dividend has grown from $0,55 per share (quarterly) to its current level of $1,07 per share. That's an awesome growth rate of 12% per year. With this pace my dividend has doubled in the last 6 years. I am really content to have added this company to my portfolio a few years ago.

So far this year I've received 19 dividend raises which added almost €80 to my annual income stream.




What do you think the dividend raise by UNP? Do you consider adding shares to your portfolio at its current price?

Recent dividend increases

Back in February I wrote about various dividend increases. The pace continues in the last weeks with different raises! Of course I am happy with these raises, especially after a somewhat sobering 2020 in terms of dividend growth. So let's take a look at the raises.

Realty Income

On March 16th Realty Income (NYSE:O) declared a $0.235/share monthly dividend, which is a 0.2% increase from its prior dividend of $0.2345. I received 15 dividend raises since my purchase of O back in 2018. The annual dividend growth rate is just over 2%. It's not mindblowing. My return on investment is currently around 12% per annum so I am not complaining either.

Johnson & Johnson

On April 20th Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declared a $1.06/share quarterly dividend, which is a 5% increase from its prior dividend of $1.01. I received two dividend raises since my purchase of JNJ back in 2019. I guess my expectations with regards to the dividend growth rate were met, albeit slightly on the lower end. We'll see what happens next year with the dividend!

Kinder Morgan

On April 21th Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) declared a $0.27/share quarterly dividend, which is a 2.9% increase from its prior dividend of $0.26. Since the infamous dividend cut back in early 2016, the dividend has more than doubled. However the return on my investment is still negative, around -5% on an annual basis. For now I just plan to hold and collect my dividends.

International Business Machines Corporation

On April 27th IBM (NYSE:IBM) declared a $1.64/share quarterly dividend, which is a 0.6% increase from its prior dividend of $1.63. I received seven dividend raises since my purchase of IBM back in 2014. The annual dividend growth rate is just over 6%. I guess I am disappointed with the performance of IBM which moved nowhere in the last 8 years. For now I plan to hold onto this position.

Royal Dutch Shell

On April 29th Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) declared a $0.347/ADS quarterly dividend, which is a 4.2% increase from its prior dividend of $0.333. Since the infamous dividend cut back in 2020, the dividend has risen slightly in $-terms, however because of the decline in the EUR.USD-rate it's basically steady. The return on my investment is still negative, around -2% on an annual basis. For now I just plan to hold and collect my dividends.

Baxter

On May 3th Baxter (NYSE:BAX) declared a $0.28/share quarterly dividend, which is a 14.3% increase from its prior dividend of $0.245. I received several dividend raises since my purchase of BAX back in 2013. The dividend was reduced after the Baxalta spin-off in 2015. After that moment BAX returned to a high dividend growth. And based on my return on investment (around 15% on constant FX-rate) I am quite satisfied! We'll see what happens next year with the dividend.

Summary

Together these raises increased my forward annual dividend income by roughly €7. 

Based on my portfolio's dividend yield of 3,7% I have to invest € 190 to get this kind of dividend income, but now I get it for free! Rock on!

Dividend report: April 2021

April is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

Based on a constant exchange rate my dividend income grew by over 60% compared to last year. Seven companies paid me dividends with my first ever payment from Ahold Delhaize and my first from Cisco in the month of April. The rest of my holdings increased their dividend slightly compared to last year.

I received a few dividend raises in the past two weeks (which I didn't report as of yet) With my latest addition in Ahold Delhaize, TROW and Unilever, my dividend income increased to more than € 2.070.  This increased by about € 70 compared to last month. Let's keep it going! 

How was your April?

Recent Buy: Unilever

 A few days ago I added to my existing position in Unilever (ticker: UL). I purchased my first 37 shares back in 2013 when the dividend yield was around 3,6%. The Price/Earnings-ratio at the time of my first purchas was around 20x. In those eight years the quarterly dividend has grown by almost 7% annualy. That's not too bad considering the starting yield. 

Subsequently I purchased additional shares in 2019 and 2020 with starting yields between 3,0 and 3,2%. The P/E-ratio hovered between 17-20x for those purchases. Currently Unilever is valued at a comparable forward P/E-ratio but with a somewhat higher starting yield of 3,6%. 

Even though my position in Unilever is already slightly bigger than average, I decided to increase my position by purchasing another 18 shares for €46,85 per share. This purchase added about €30 to my forward dividend income which currently stands at about € 2.070 before tax.

What do you tink of my purchase of Unilever?

Recent buy: TROW

A few days ago I added to my existing position in T. Rowe Price (ticker: TROW). I purchased my first 20 shares back in 2016 when the dividend yield was around 2,9%. The Price/Earnings-ratio at the time of my first purchas was around 17,5x. In those five years the quarterly dividend has exactly doubled, and the share price followed suit. The shares of TROW outperformed the S&P500 by a wide margin. Needless to say I am more than satisfied with this investment.

Currently TROW is valued more or less at the same P/E-ratio albeit with a slighly lower dividend yield. The company is firing on all cylinders, has improved its net income margin, decreased the number of oustanding shares by almost 10% and still has no debt whatsoever. Obviously the performance was boosted by increasing share prices accross the board.

Even though my position in TROW was already slightly bigger than average, I decided to increase my position by 50% by purchasing another 10 shares for $ 176,70 per share. This purchase added about $43  to my forward dividend income which currently stands at about € 2.060 before tax.

What do you tink of my purchase of TROW?

Dividend report: March 2021

March is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

Based on a constant exchange rate my dividend income grew by about 7%. It's not bad considering what happened last year when Shell had a major dividend cut. However, I did have some nice raises last year, for instance from BBL and TROW and Aflac. I also added to my position in Aflac last year and opened a new position in BIP.

All in all I received more than € 200 after tax from my investments, which is a milestone! Besides the month of January when I receive my annual dividend in Brink, I have never reached such a high passive income. I might not reach this milestone again for six months because of the semi-annual payout from BBL but we'll see what happens!

With a great first month, a decent 2nd and a fine 3rd month, 2021 is off to a good start. With my latest addition in Ahold Delhaize my dividend income increased to more than € 2.000. Let's keep it going! 

How was your March?

Recent buy: Ahold-Delhaize

I few days ago I started a position in Ahold Delhaize (ticker: AD). I outlined my reasons in my recent Seeking Alpha article which you can read here. I want to strengthen my Euro-denominated part of the portfolio. Ahold Delhaize yields around 3,9% and raised its dividend with a whopping 18% last time around. It is reasonably priced at the moment (at least in my opinion). It offers a stable business model with room to grow with its online business like Bol.com.

I added 60 shares for about € 23 per share. This purchase will add € 54 to my annual dividend income stream which stands at around € 2.025 pre-tax. With this purchse I reached a milestone of € 2.000 in dividend income! My next milestone will be € 2.400 (which is €200 per month on average). Hopefully I can reach this by the end of the year!

What do you think of my purchase?

Ahold Delhaize: A Big European Retailer At A Reasonable Price

I’ve been a dividend investor for almost eight years. One of my first purchases back in 2013 was Walmart (WMT). This purchase was successful based on the total return of around 10% per year, but the dividend growth has been rather slow. Right now I want to increase the Euro-denominated part of my dividend portfolio. This article will explain why I chose to start a position in Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize, a competitor of Walmart in the US market.

Business model

Ahold Delhaize (ADRNY) is a Dutch grocery retail company. Its business model includes supermarkets, convenience stores, hypermarkets, online grocery, online non-food, drugstores, and liquor stores. It’s focused on the US and European market. In the US the biggest local brands are Food Lion, Stop & Shop and Giant. In Europe the biggest local brands are Albert Heijn (The Netherlands), Delhaize (Belgium) and Mega Image (Romania). Roughly 40% of revenues are made in Europe and the other 60% in US markets. The biggest competitors in the US markets are (among others) Walmart, Target (TGT) and Kroger (KR).

Read the rest of the article at Seeking Alpha!

Dividend report: February 2021

February is over! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

Based on a constant exchange rate my dividend income grew by just under 10%. It's not bad considering what happened last year. The lack of dividend increases between Deere, OHI and AT&T and a measly increase from Realty Income (O) is starting to take its toll. Luckily, Deere announced a pretty sweet dividend raise last week, so in the next quarter that row will look a lot better in comparison with the year before! One of my latest additions Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) also paid its first dividend in february. However, due to changes in the exchange rate by dividend income in euro's (€) is more or less the same as last year. Nothing to worry, as that will probably change later in time or life.

With a great first month, and a decent 2nd, 2021 is off to a good start. In the last two weeks I also received several dividend increases which raised my forward dividend income to € 1.940. I will start to see these effects later on this year. It's cool to note that during these two months I received more dividend income than the whole of 2014 (my first full year of dividend investering). If I add the coming month of March I will (almost) surpass the whole of 2015, 2016 and 2017 as well (not combined obviously!). 

With the marktet upswing in February I also reached a new milestone in terms of portfolio value. I reached the € 50.000 milestone! The last € 10.000 took about 17 months which is about the same as the € 10.000 before that. I hope to reach the next €10.000 a bit faster and plan to increase my monthly contribution going forward. More on that in a later post because I used a little bit of financial engineering for that!

How was your second month of the year?

Three recent dividend increases - part 2 (Coca, Walmart and Deere)

 A few days ago I wrote about three recent dividend increases. The pace of raises continues with a few new raises! Of course I am happy with these raises, especially after a somewhat sobering 2020 in terms of dividend growth. So let's take a look at the raises.

Coca-Cola

On February 18th Coca-Cola (KO) declared a $0.42/share quarterly dividend, which is a 2.4% increase from its prior dividend of $0.41. Last year KO increased its dividend by a penny as well. I received eight dividend raises since my purchase of KO back in 2013. The annual dividend growth rate is between 5-6%. It's not mindblowing but it's not that bad either. My return on investment is currently around 8% per annum so I am not complaining.

Walmart

On February 18th Walmart (WMT) declared a $0.55/share quarterly dividend, which is a 1.9% increase from its prior dividend of $0.54. It's not a big raise but its one nonetheless.  I received eight dividend raises since my purchase of WMT back in 2013. The annual dividend growth rate is 2%. I guess my expectations with regards to the dividend growth rate were somewhat higher. However, my return on investment is currently around 11% per annum so that definitely IS solid. We'll see what happens next year with the dividend!

Deere

On February 24th Deere (DE) declared a $0.90/share quarterly dividend, which is a 18% increase from its prior dividend of $0.76. Now that's what I call dividend growth! I received four dividend raises since my purchase of DE back in 2013. The dividend growth occurs on a not so frequent basis. The last dividend raise was about two years ago. The annual dividend growth rate is 8% nonetheless. My purchase of Deere is the best decision I ever made (investment wise that is!) with a return on investment of around 23% per annum. That's a 3.7x-bagger right there! 

Summary

Together these raises increased my forward annual dividend income by roughly €10. 

Based on my portfolio's dividend yield of 3,8% I have to invest € 270 to get this kind of dividend income, but now I get it for free! Rock on!

Three recent dividend increases (TROW, CSCO and BBL)

A few days ago I wrote about four recent dividend increases. The pace of raises continues with a few new raises! Of course I am happy with these raises, especially after a somewhat sobering 2020 in terms of dividend growth. So let's take a look at the raises.

T. Rowe Price

On February 9 T. Rowe Price (TROW) declared a $1.08/share quarterly dividend, which is a whopping 20% increase from its prior dividend of $0.90. Last year TROW increased its dividend by a massive 18% as well. I received five dividend raises since my purchase of TROW back in 2016. The quarterly dividend payment has exactly doubled since that time! My return on investment is currently around 20% per annum so I am not complaining.

Cisco

On the same day Cisco (CSCO) declared a $0.37/share quarterly dividend, which is modest 2.8% increase from its prior dividend of $0.36. I recently purchased shares in Cisco its my first dividend raise. It's not big raise but its one nonetheless. We'll see what happens next year!

BHP

Today BHP released their financial results for the half-year ended 31 December 2020. The results definitely looked solid with increasing earnings and margins, higher cashflow and shareholder returns and lower debt. They declared a dividend of $1,01 per share (which is $2,02 for the BBL shares). This is an increase of more than 50% compared to its March payment last year.

Summary

Together these raises increased my forward annual dividend income by roughly €30. Based on my portfolio's dividend yield of 3,9% I have to invest € 770 to get this kind of dividend income, but now I get it for free! Rock on!

Four recent dividend increases (BEP, BIP, INTC and Unilever)

During the last weeks I received a few dividend increases! Of course I am happy with these raises, especially after a somewhat sobering 2020 in terms of dividend growth. So let's take a look at the raises.

Intel

On January 21 Intel Corporation reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 financial results. The company also announced that its board of directors approved a cash dividend increase of five percent to $1.39 per share on an annual basis. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3475 per share on the company’s common stock, which will be payable on March 1 to shareholders of record on February 7.

Since my purchase of INTC shares back in 2013 the dividend growth has been around 6% annualy. That is not bad, but it's not swinging for the fences either. However based on the total stock return my purchase is a success nonetheless. Including dividends and FOREX changes my purchase yielded 16,5% annualy till now. I'll hang 'on for now.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partner

On February 2 Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) declared a $0.51/share quarterly dividend, which is a 5.2% increase from its prior dividend of $0.48. It's my first dividend raise from BIP since I purchased shares only in July 2020. With its current yield of around 4% a raise of 5% is right around what you can expect I guess. I'll take it!

Brookfield Renewable Partners

On February 4 Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP) declared a $0.3038/share quarterly dividend, which is a 5.1% increase from its prior dividend of $0.2890 (split adjusted). It's my second dividend raise from BEP since I purchased shares back in 2019. I definitely want to add to this position because I believe in its business model, but shares have soared since my purchase. My original purchase had a dividend yield of almost 6%, currently BEP shares have a dividend yield of just 2,6%. That's a big difference. I'll just have to wait a bit I guess.

Unilever

On February 4 the maker of Marmite and Dove soap raised the dividend by 4% to €0,4268 per share. This is my 7th raise since my original purchase back in 2013. Dividend growth during that timeframe is around 6,6% annualy which seems more than fine, considering its current dividend yield of 3,7%. However total return has been a bit muted with 'just' 6,9% per year. I'd consider adding a few shares at its current valuation but it is one of my bigger positions already so maybe I'll just have to wait.

Summary

In total I received four dividend raises which raised my forward dividend income by about € 12,50. Based on my portfolio's dividend yield of 3,8% I have to invest € 330 to get this kind of dividend income, but now I get it for free!

Let's see what more 2021 has to offer!

Dividend report: January 2021

It's the first time of the year for my monthly dividend report! It's crazy to see that January is already over. Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

That's some dividend income right there! It's almost doubled compared to last year! My own employer decided to pay a dividend because our financiel results last year were solid, even with COVID-19. There's also a kicker because the final dividend from fiscal year 2019 wasn't paid last year due to the uncertainties. Together with my extra purchase of 20 shares last year the dividend payment ballooned to €600 before taxes.

However my dollar-denominated growth wasn't too bad either. Small annual increases from WMT, PM, O and a somewhat bigger increase from BAX. One of my latest additions CISCO also paid its dividend for the first time in january.

So its definitely a good start in 2021! In the last week I also received a few dividend increases which raised my forward dividend income to € 1.900, but more on that in a later post. I am also close to reaching the € 50.000 milestone in portfolio value. We'll see what happens in the market in the coming weeks.

How was your first month of the year?

Dividend report: December 2020

I am two weeks later, but we're done with December! It's the last time of the year for a monthly update. Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

Compared to last year my dividend income more or less remained the same. I received about € 154 after taxes, compared to € 158 last year. In total I got paid by 13 different companies. Some of my holdings showed some dividend growth. TROW is the biggest autonomous dividend grower, the rest of the bigger increase is due to additional share purchases. The decline in income is explained by a change in the USD.EUR exchange rate. Without the 9% decline in USD.EUR I would have had a 4% increase in dividend income. But hey, who cares!

In total I received about € 1.450 in dividens, which is 8% more than last year. That is rather disappointing but given the circumstances of last year not too bad. Dividend growth was muted in most cases and I even experienced some cuts. The decline in USD.EUR did the rest.  But I guess that gives a lot of room for improvement in 2021. I am bit behind my medium to long term goals so I better step up and increase the pace.

How was your month? what are your plans for this year?