Recent buy (APD) and recent sell (T)

Last week I sold my position in AT&T (ticker: T). I sold my 42 shares for just under $24 per share. I purchased these shares about three years ago for $28.65. I received about $240 in dividends during this period. The total return on my investment is a rather measly 1% per year. THe first year I received the usual dividend raise. One year after my purchase AT&T decided to stop increasing its dividend. To make matters worse, earlier this year they decided to slash its dividend because of the spin-off of WarnerMedia. I decided to offload my shares before the actual spin-off so I wouldn't be stuck with two positions I am not too happy about. This will decrease my annual forward income by about $74.

That said, with my cash position I decided to start a new position in Air Products & Chemicals (APD). APD provides essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications to customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage. Given the high barriers for entry and long-term contracts with its clients, I expect this company to do well in the future.

The share price of APD is more than 20% lower than the peak in last year. Shares are yielding 2,6%. I believe the company is not THAT cheap, but I guess its fairly valued. I consider this my first purchase. Depending on the share price developemnt I could further increase my position. This purchase will add about $40 to my annual forward income.

All in all my annual forward dividend income decreased because AT&T was a higher yielding company before the dividend cut. However, later this month I might have a big enough cash buffer to make another purchase. Let's see what happens!

Dividend raise: T (+2,0%)

My 2nd dividend raise of 2020! A few days ago AT&T (T) announced a raise in their quarterly dividend from $0,51 to $0,52. This raise adds a whopping € 1,50 to my annual dividend income! It's actually my first dividend raise from T. I expected a penny raise so this is fine.

So far this is my second dividend raise. Last year I received 21 dividend raises in 2019. These raises combined have added around € 60 to my forward annual dividend income. In 2020 my dividend income has increased by almost € 2 already. Of course I expect more raises during the rest of 2020. I'll keep you updated!

Dividend report - February 2019

It's time to give an update of the dividends I received last month. Five companies decided to pay me a dividend for my ownership. Total dividends (after tax) are around €87, 45% more than last year.

You can see the breakdown in the table below.

The report shows all sorts of things! Firstly there are big dividend raises from Deere and Kinder Morgan. I don't expect these kind of raises to continue, but they are really nice for now!

Secondly there's O with a smaller year-on-year increase. And there's Omega Healthcare (OHI) which stopped raising its dividend since last year. They have to work out various issues regarding to its tenants. I read the recent quarterly earnings report and things are definitely not solved but for now I decided to stand pat.

Finally it's the first month T is contributing to my monthly dividend income. I opened a position earlier this year. Really excited to see the first $20 paycheck returned to me!

Yearly dividend income (before taxes) stands at around €1250 which is a slight increase since last report. This is due to recent dividend raises and a favorable USD.EUR currency exchange rate.

Recent buy: AT&T (T)

Earlier in January I purchased my first shares in 2019. I used around $1.200 to purchase 42 shares in AT&T (ticker symbol: T) for a price of $28.65. This will add around €75 to my annual forward dividend income.

My reasoning is as follows:

• T seemed undervalued based on a PE-ratio, compared to earlier years.
• T's yield at the time of my purchase was monstrous. There's no need for high growth with a yield of 7,1%. T's recent dividend growth is muted but coupled with a historically high yield this seems fine.
• Major, recent acquisitions of T are TimeWarner for $85 billion (in 2016) and DirectTV for $48 billion (in 2015). Hopefully this will provide top line growth and a strengthening of AT&T's position in the content space.
• Its current debt leven is worring, but muted dividend growth combined with some asset sales should provide enough wiggle room in order to reduce debt levels.
• Finally, I had no exposure towards telecommunications in my dividend portfolio. The addition of T seems logical from that perspective.

What do you think of my purchase of T? Did you recently purchased shares of T?

Next purchase: what to do?

I just deposited €1000,- to my brokerage account. Together with the accumulated dividends of the last months (€500) I am able to open up another position in my dividend growth portfolio. Given the fact that the US dollar and the Euro are looking at parity maybe somewhere in the next few months, I was pondering to purchase a Euro-based dividend company. However the 'Euro Dividend All Stars' (maintained by No More Waffles) provided me with less options than I originally anticipated!

I used the following criteria in my search:

• P/E-ratio < 20;
• 3-, 5- and 10 DGR > 6%;
• Yield > 1.5%;

This set of criteria yielded me with 6 investment options. All of those are hovering near their 52wk highs. I only recognized BASF (materials) and BMW (auto industry). However I am not keen on getting into the auto industry. So maybe BASF? Unfortunately they only pay their dividends once per year :(

So what about US dividend stocks? There seems to be some consensus that certain stocks are good buys in the current market environment. I've seen a few 'recent buy' posts about JNJ, T and TROW. However, Praxair (PX) is looking nice at $122 as well (P/E-ratio at 21x though). Blackrock's (BLK) stock price has run up slightly since the beginning of the year, so perhaps TROW is a slightly better option right now? Realty Income (O) decreased almost 10% in the last 3 months and is a monthly dividend payer. Definitely O would be a nice quality addition to my portfolio!

Does someone out there have some good advice for me? Or maybe some other suggestions? I am looking forward to hearing from you :)