Monthly Report: April 2020

We're almost done with May, but I still have to report on my dividends in the month of April. Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

I received € 44 after taxes. This is a slight increase from last year. I got paid by 5 different companies, I guess April is a slow month for me. If I look at my progress based on the cumulative dividend income this year I am about 32% ahead compared to last year. That sounds perfect, especially during these rough times! However, I expect this growth percentage to come down during the year because of the dividend cuts I received in the last two months.

Current forward divided is around € 1.700,-. I just keep doing what I've been doing in the last years: work, earn my wages, deposit into my brokerage as much as I can and keep buying income producing assets to enhance my financial situation. Rinse and repeat.

Dividend raises, and a dividend cut!

Recently I received a few dividend raises and a cut.

• Johnson & Johnson raised their quarterly dividend with more than 6%.
• Kinder Morgan raised their quarterly dividend with 5%.
• IBM raised their quarterly dividend with just under 1%.
• BAX raised their quarterly dividend with more than 11%.

These raises added about € 6 to my annual dividend income. Too bad I also had my 2nd dividend cut this year, after Accel suspended its annual dividend. Royal Dutch Shell decided to slash its dividend with 66%. This is a unprecedented move for the company but I guess they didn't have any other option. Oil prices were low already due to the geopolitical struggles between big oil producing countries. Then COVID-19 entered our world which lowered demand drastically. This perfect storm (or black swan) was just too much. Too bad Shell was (and still is) a big part of my dividend portfolio so my forward annual dividend took a big hit.

Recent buy: Aflac

Last week I've purchased another batch of shares. After my recent purchase of Shell of a few weeks ago it was time for me to pounce again on the recent pullback due to COVID-19. 

I've added 24 shares of Aflac to my portfolio. Aflac is an existing position in my portfolio. I bought my first shares back in 2014 for a split-adjusted price of around $ 31. The price has been hovering between $50 and $55 before all the market turmoil began. Aflac crashed about 40% so I thought it was time to add a little bit to my existing position.

I now own 80 shares of Aflac. These new 24 shares add roughly €25 to my annual forward dividend income which now stands at €1.892.

What do you think of my purchase? And my reasoning?

Dividend cut: Accell

So this is my first dividend cut since a long time. Earlier, Accell decided to pay a dividend € 0,30 per share but they withdrew the proposal last week. They want to hoard cash and pulled their existing credit line as well. I guess they are making the right moves, since times are tough for the company.

I am not sure if this is a cut or just a suspension. I expect the worst, which means my annual dividend income will decrease by almost € 15. Let's see what happens with other companies in the coming weeks.

Monthly report: March 2020

It's already April, so it's time for my regular monthly dividend report! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

I received € 182 after taxes. This is a solid increase from last year. If I look at my progress based on the cumulative dividend  income this year I am about 35% ahead compared to last year. That sounds perfect! Last month has been volatile with all the Corona issues and its impact on the stock market. I am not too worried however, and decided that I should use the moment to increase the size of one of my holdings. I'll write about it in the next blog post.

The underlying treemap shows the results per ticker relative to its size in my portfolio. The color green suggests an increase, but that's not true. The color is based on the best and worst performer in my portfolio. WMT with an increase of 6% is my best performer, but that's actually the only company that is worth more since last month. The rest of my companies has declined in price, between 5% to almost 50% for Realty Income and Accel.

How was your month? Did you buy or sell last month?

Dividend raise: Realty Income

Amidst all the terrible news surrounding COVID-19, I received my 12th dividend raise of 2020. A few days ago Realty Income (O) announced a raise in their monthly dividend from $0,2275 to $0,2230. This raise adds a whopping € 0,14 to my annual dividend income. Ka-ching!

All jokes aside, Realty Income increases their dividend on more than one occasion each year. Last year they raised the dividend 5 times. This is their third raise already in 2020. Hopefully there's more to come this year!

So far this is my 12th dividend raise. These raises combined have added almost € 90 to my forward annual dividend income. Of course I expect more raises during the rest of 2020. I'll keep you updated!

Did you like the dividend raise of O? Do you think the dividend is safe during COVID-19 times? 

Recent buy: Royal Dutch Shell

Last week I've purchased another batch of shares. It was finally time for me to pounce on the recent weakness in oil stocks. Currently I have three oil related stocks in my portfolio: Exxon Mobil, Kinder Morgan and Royal Dutch Shell. I decided to add 40 shares to my current position of Royal Dutch Shell for €20.50 per share. This is the lowest price I paid in all of my RDS purchases in 6 years.

My reasoning is as follows:

• Shell is a fundamentally sound company and also important: it's an integrated energy company. Lower oil prices are obviously bad for upstream business (exploration and production) but margins for downstream operations (refineries) are increasing.
• Management seems to be doing a good job with unloading assets at times with higher oil prices and buying back shares when prices are low. 
• Oil prices will fluctuate. They have so done in the past and will do so in the future. I still see future potential in the oil business (like for 20-30 years or so) before alternatives are economically feasible and provide enough (and stable!) energy. The world's population is growing to 9 billion people and these people need energy. Shell can and will provide these needs. 
• The dividend yield of 8% looks awesome! 
• I wanted to strengthen my EURO-denominated part of the portfolio. About 75% of my stock portfolio is listed in US dollars. I am not too uncomfortable with that right now, but it still provided me with an extra argument to purchase RDS.

I now own 150 shares of RDS. These new 40 shares add roughly €67 to my annual forward dividend income which now stands at €1.813.

What do you think of my purchase? And my reasoning?