Recent Buy: Adding 30 Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC)

Today I added 30 shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (BIPC) to my dividend portfolio. This is not a new name for me - BIPC has been a core infrastructure holding for some time - but the recent price weakness provided what I believe is an attractive opportunity to add at a higher yield.

What Happened to the Share Price?

BIPC has declined sharply since mid‑February. After reaching a 52‑week high of almost $52 on February 12, 2026, the stock has dropped to around $41–42, representing an 18% pullback in just over two months. The primary catalyst was the Q4 2025 earnings release, where reported EPS came in well below consensus. While headline EPS disappointed, funds from operations (FFO) rose 6% year over year, driven by organic growth and new investments, particularly in utilities and data infrastructure. As often happens with Brookfield entities, accounting noise around depreciation and disposals overshadowed solid cash flow performance. 

Why BIPC Fits My Dividend Strategy

Brookfield Infrastructure owns a diversified portfolio of essential, long-life assets—utilities, transport networks, midstream, and data infrastructure—spread across multiple geographies. These assets benefit from inflation-linked contracts, regulated frameworks, and high barriers to entry.

At today’s price, BIPC offers a dividend yield of approximately 4.2%, well above both the broader market and the utilities sector average. The current quarterly dividend is $0.455 per share, reflecting a roughly 6% year‑over‑year increase, continuing Brookfield’s long-standing policy of mid‑single‑digit annual distribution growth.

Importantly, management has reiterated its expectation for FFO growth to accelerate in 2026, as recently commissioned projects contribute for a full year and capital recycling is redeployed into higher‑return opportunities.

This Is Not My First Purchase

This recent buy builds on earlier positions I established back in 2024 and 2025, which I documented previously on the blog.

Final Thoughts

By adding 30 shares at today’s prices, I am increasing portfolio income while averaging into a high‑quality infrastructure business during a period of market pessimism. With a higher yield, visible dividend growth, and improving cash flows, BIPC once again looks like a compelling long-term dividend holding especially when bought after a drawdown rather than at a peak.

As always, patience and cash flow matter more than short‑term price movements in a dividend portfolio.

Recent buy: Adding Microsoft (MSFT) to My Dividend Portfolio After the Recent Pullback

Last week I added 5 shares of Microsoft (MSFT) to my dividend portfolio, taking advantage of a sharp but, in my view, fundamentally driven mispricing that emerged in late March. While Microsoft is not a high‑yield stock, it remains one of the most reliable dividend growth compounders in the market, and the recent price weakness offered a rare chance to buy quality at a discount.

What Caused the Recent Price Drop?

Microsoft shares declined materially through March, falling roughly 25–33% from their 52‑week highs, with the stock trading in the $360–$380 range in the last two weeks of March 2026. Importantly, this drop was not driven by deteriorating fundamentals. The sell‑off was largely fueled by investor concerns around AI capital expenditure, margin compression, and fears that monetisation of AI investments might take longer than initially hoped. Combine this with the recent global sell-off due to geopolitical issues in the world. Despite these concerns, Microsoft’s FY2026 Q2 earnings beat expectations, showing 16.7% revenue growth and double‑digit EPS growth, reinforcing that operational performance remains strong. In other words, sentiment deteriorated faster than business performance—a dynamic long‑term investors should welcome.

Why This Is an Attractive Entry Point

At current levels, Microsoft trades at a compressed forward valuation, near its lowest multiples in nearly a decade. Analysts broadly agree the stock has moved into undervaluation territory, with many characterising recent prices as a valuation reset rather than a structural decline.

Crucially for a dividend portfolio, Microsoft maintains:

• A AAA credit rating
• Enormous cash generation
• A commercial backlog exceeding $600 billion
• Strong competitive moats across cloud, enterprise software, and AI infrastructure.

This combination significantly reduces long‑term downside risk.

Dividend Quality Still Intact

Microsoft continues to be a best‑in‑class dividend grower. As of early April 2026, the company pays an annual dividend of $3.64 per share, or $0.91 quarterly, with a yield of approximately 0.97% at current prices. While the yield is modest, the payout ratio remains low (around 22%), leaving ample room for future increases. With this purchase I add about $18 to my annual dividend income.

Microsoft has now increased its dividend for over 20 consecutive years, and the most recent dividend was confirmed in March with the next ex‑dividend date set for May 21, 2026.

Final Thoughts

Buying Microsoft during this pullback aligns perfectly with my dividend strategy: high‑quality businesses, temporary market fear, and long‑term compounding. The stock may remain volatile in the short term as AI investment debates continue, but from a multi‑year perspective, this looks like a rare opportunity to add an elite dividend growth stock at an attractive valuation.

As always, patience is the edge.

Monthly report: March 2026

March was another challenging month for equity markets, especially for investors with broad index exposure. Most major indices ended the month solidly in the red. The AEX GR declined by ‑5.1%, while the European STOXX 50 lost ‑7.4%. In the US, the damage was similar: the S&P 500 fell ‑7.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Index ‑7.4%, and the global IWDA ETF dropped ‑4.9%. In short: this was a clear risk‑off month across regions and asset classes.

This market weakness fits well with the broader narrative we’ve been seeing recently. According to Reuters (March 30, 2026), dividend‑focused funds are attracting strong inflows as investors look for stability and income amid geopolitical tensions and rising volatility (U.S. Dividend Funds Draw Strong Flows). In that context, price pressure comes as no surprise—and neither does increased interest in dividends.

Portfolio price movements: winners and losers

Within my own portfolio, price movements reflected this tough environment. The top three gainers in March were:

• Shell: +14%
• Exxon Mobil (XOM): +10%
• APD: +5%

Energy clearly remained a bright spot, supported by higher oil prices and ongoing geopolitical risk.

On the other end of the spectrum, the three biggest losers were:

• UNA: ‑20%
• BIPC: ‑20%
• MPT: ‑18%

These declines look painful in isolation, but they need to be viewed in the context of the entire portfolio and the broader market sell‑off.

Out of 37 holdings, only 6 finished the month higher, versus 31 decliners. That gives a winners/losers ratio of 0.2, with an average gain of +4.3% for winners and an average loss of ‑7.7% for losers. This skew might feel uncomfortable, but it closely mirrors what happened in the indices. The portfolio did not “fail” this month—it simply moved in line with a broadly declining market, while still showing pockets of resilience.

More importantly, this kind of distribution is precisely why diversification and income matter. Short‑term price volatility is temporary; cash flow is not.

Dividend income: steady progress

The most encouraging part of the March report is dividend income. On a constant FX basis, total monthly income increased from €548 to €626, a +14.2% year‑over‑year improvement. Even after FX effects and taxes, net income still rose by +7.9% compared to March last year.

The important reasons for the dividend growth are:

• Companies such as AFL, CMI, BLK and CNI continued their cycle of steady dividend increases, which compounds nicely over time, even in weak market conditions.
• New addition to the portfolio NEE delivered a nice first dividend of almost $25. I purchased shares back in april and september last year.
• Dividends from Visa (V) and BIPC got boosted because of share purchases during the last year, in addition to their regular dividend increases.

That’s the real win: higher income despite lower prices. I’ll end with a piece of timeless wisdom that feels especially relevant this month:

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” — Warren Buffett

And for dividend investors, patience doesn’t just wait—it pays.