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!

Dividend cut (BBL) and raises (PM, O)

This year has not been too kind with regards to dividend growth. I received several dividend cuts (or "suspensions") with the cut from Shell being the toughest. The latest dividend cut is BBL. A few weeks ago they declared a dividend of $ 1,10 per share which is a 15% decrease from last years dividend. My annual dividend income will decrease by about € 10.

However there's also some good news. Recently PM raised its dividend by almost 3% to $1,20 per share. Realty Income (O) raised its monthly dividend to $0,234 which is a whopping 0,2% increase. My annual dividend income increased by just under € 2 due to these raises.

In total I received 22 raised (and cuts) so far this year. Maybe growth will return later this year, but for now I don't expect anything going forward. I'll just have to deposit more money to grow dividends!

Dividend raises: BBL (+18%), WMT (+2%) and KO (+2%)

Recently I received a few dividend raises. The raises from Coca Cola (KO) and Wal-Mart (WMT) are rather small, but expected in light of last years raises and recent events. The raise from BBL is big, however it's just the first dividend of the year. We'll have to see what happens in September. It is however worth mentioning that its dividend is now back at the level of 2016, just before its infamous dividend cut. In just 4 years time BBL got back, that's great, isn't it?!

These raises added about € 7 to my annual dividend income. So far I received 11 raises this year. Hopefully there's more to come!

Dividend raise: Billiton (+24%)

Last week Billiton (ticker: BBL) raised its semi-annual dividend. The 2nd payment was $1.26 per share last year and is raised to $1.56. This is a hefty raise of 24% and adds roughly € 7,50 to my annual dividend income (before taxes).

Billiton has a somewhat odd dividend history since my purchase back in 2013. They slashed the dividend back in 2016 but raised it during the last years back to the level of 2015. And on top of that in 2019 they declared a special dividend worth about one year of dividends. Even though it has been a rocky road, I am glad I didn't sell my investment back in 2016 for $20 a share. BBL is now priced at about $50 per share. So there might be a lesson here to not automatically sell after a dividend cut!

This year I've received 18 dividend raises that added about € 55 to my annual dividend income so far.

Are you a shareholder of BBL? And what do you think about its dividend prospects?

New additions to the Dividend Growth Portfolio!

In the last week I've initiated three new positions. I wanted to blog about this earlier but everytime I started, something came up. Now without further ado, my purchases are:

• 63 shares of Intel (INTC) for $23.88 each
• 43 shares of Textainer Group Holdings (TGH) for $34.34 each 
• 28 shares of BHP Billiton (BBL) for $54.70 each

Intel

Intel yields 3.7% at current valuations and has increased dividend for 9 consecutive years. The last 5 years dividend has grown by 14% yearly compounded. Although the technology sector is quite volatile, Intel is a stock I feel comfortable purchasing. I am sure the future holds great things for our society but one of the key ingredients for further growth is technological advancement.  Intel is one of the leading companies on this front. 

Textainer buys and leases sea containers. Textainer offers a nice fat dividend of 5.4%, but is also one of the fastest dividend growers. It has raised dividends for the last 7 years and in the last 5 years it has grown dividends over 50% yearly compounded. Current payout-ratio is 45% so that means there is room to grow. Downside of this company is it's debt/equity-ratio of 2.3x. It uses debt to finance growth, however it's interest ratio is a healthy 3x. Definately one of the more riskier stocks in this portfolio but also a potential gem!

Finally, BHP Billiton. A big exploration and mining corporation. It yields over 4% and I think it was fairly cheap, because it traded near 52week lows. BBL's been raising dividends for 10 years, with yearly increases between 10-20%. As well as Textainer, BLL is a bit more risky than average. This doesn't have to be a problem but I'll try to pick less risky stocks for my next purchase.

These stocks added $200 to my yearly forward dividend which stands at $363. I plan to deposit some more money after my vacation to finalize my first part of the portfolio. After these purchases I will deposit monthly and together with dividend income will initiate new positions or add to existing ones.

Thanks for reading!

What do you think will be good additions to this portfolio? The usual suspects like KO, MCD, PG, JNJ or another company? Let me know!