Financial Review Of 3 Asset Management Companies: My Favorite Is BlackRock

I started to year of great by writing an article for Seeking Alpha on three companies in the asset management sector, titled: Financial Review Of 3 Asset Management Companies: My Favorite Is BlackRock.

The three companies I investigated were Franklin Resources (BEN), T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) and BlackRock (BLK). BlackRock is the biggest one in terms of assets under management (roughly $4.500 billion). Check out my article if you want to know why BlackRock is my favorite stock in this space! Please let me know what you think of the article.

Disclaimer: I currently don't own stock in any of the companies mentioned.

Review of goals in 2014

Last year around this time I put out some goals for 2014. These goals relate to my dividend growth portfolio. A year has passed since then, so let's take a look at how I've done!

Goals for 2014

I roughly stated four goals:

1. Deposit €300 per month (€3.600 in total)
2. Receive dividends of €550
3. Make one purchase each quarter
4. Reach a portfolio value of €18.000 (least important goal, because I can't control reaching this goal by any means.

Monthly Update: December 2014

A little bit earlier than usual, but in a few days I can post my annual results, so why not post the monthly update in advance? All in all, December was a pretty solid month in terms of market and portfolio return, even though most oil stocks took a beating. I was unable to pounce on the continued price weakness in these stocks because of a lack of fresh capital.

Stock markets rose slightly here in The Netherlands as well as abroad. The US Dollar also rose in value against the Euro, which is fine for my portfolio because it's mostly denominated in USD.

Indicator	As of 30-11	As of 29-12	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.779	3.827	+1.3%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	35.507	36.081	+1.6%
AEX GR	1.235	1.244	+0.8%
USD.EUR	0,8019	0,8227	+2.6%
Portfolio value	€ 20.881	€ 21.390	+2.4%

Monthly Update: November 2014

A little bit late, but better late than never, right? The month has passed and it's my favorite time, giving an update of my dividend portfolio. All in all, November was a pretty solid month in terms of market and portfolio return. Stock markets surged ahead, here in The Netherlands as well as abroad.

Indicator	As of 31-10	As of 30-11	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.680	3.779	+2.7%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	34.619	35.507	+2.6%
AEX GR	1.195	1.235	+3.3%
USD.EUR	0,7987	0,8019	+0.4%
Portfolio value	€ 20.323	€ 20.881	+2.7%

Monthly Update: October 2014

The month has passed and it's my favorite time, giving an update of my dividend portfolio. I've updated my benchmarks to include the total return indices, instead of only the stockprice indices. This seems like a better comparison.

Indicator	As of 30-9	As of 31-10	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.545	3.680	+3.8%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	33.417	34.619	+3.6%
AEX GR	1.210	1.195	-1.3%
USD.EUR	0,7924	0,7987	+0.8%
Portfolio value	€ 20.095	€ 20.323	+1.1%

Recent buy: IBM

In my monthly recap I mentioned I had enough funds to open a new position. I have used these funds to purchase 7 shares of IBM for $190 per share. This purchase adds €25 to my annual forward dividends which now stands at €750.

My reasoning for this purchase is as follows:

• IBM currently yields 2.3% and has increased the dividend 13% per year in the last five years.
• The payout ratio is extremely low (25%) which leaves ample room for future dividend increases.
• P/E-ratio is low (<12).
• IBM is buying their own common stock hand over fists. Especially at current prices, this provides a floor to the stock price and leaves me with a bigger piece of the profit pie.
• IBM shifted from begin a low margin hardware company to a higher margin supplier of business solutions, software and IT consulting.
• Big Data, Cloud and Mobile are important trends. IBM is a key player in this segment and should be able to profit from these developments.
• IBM estimates to earn $20 in operating earnings per share in 2015. The company currently earns $15-16 per share. This results in $18 billion in net income in 2013!

It's my 2nd purchase in the technology sector after Intel. I think IBM will complement my portfolio very well as I consider it to a stable and big player during one of the major societal developments in the next decade.

What do you think of this purchase?

Monthly update: September 2014

The month has passed and it's my favorite time, giving an update of my dividend portfolio. I've updated my benchmarks to include the total return indices, instead of only the stockprice indices. This seems like a better comparison.

Indicator	As of 31-8	As of 30-9	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.645	3.545	-2.7%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	33.910	33.417	-1.5%
AEX GR	1.203	1.210	+0.6%
USD.EUR	0,7616	0,7924	+4.0%
Portfolio value	€ 19.313	€ 19.195	-0.6%