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...

 

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!

Recent buy: Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)

On one of the last days of 2020 I added a position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (ticker: BMY). I wanted to strengthen the healthcare part of my portfolio. I only held JNJ and Baxter and wanted to diversify a bit further by adding a big pharmaceutical company to my roster.

I hesitated between purchasing shares of Bristol-Meyers, Pfizer or Abbvie. I compared their yields, valuation and other financial indicators but the differences were actually rather limited. I find it difficult to judge how their pipelines look and what I can expect in terms of future revenue growth between these companies. In the end, I went with BMY because of their slightly better valuation. Their ex-dividend date is actually today (not really a coincidence) so I expect to receive my first dividend payment February 1.

I added 22 shares for about $61,60 per share. This purchase will add roughly € 35 to my annual dividend income stream which stands at around € 1.840 pre-tax.

What do you think of my purchase?