Monthly report: June 2024

June is over! It's done, we are halfway 2024. Can you believe it?!

All in all a decent month with stocks up-and-down. Biggest winners are ASML (+10%) and OHI (+6%). ASML is my biggest position so that is nice. OHI is a rather stable dividend payer, but nothting too fancy with the stock price appreciation. Biggest losers are MPW (-22%) and HASI (-11%). Nothing new with MPD, I'll hold for the dividend for now but the company really has some troubles to solve. HASI seems to be doing ok, but its share price is rather volatile.

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?!

A total of more than €2.400 after tax. 17 companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by more than 600% compared to last year including the FX-effect. This monstrous increase was because of a final dividend from Brink (my employer). Last year they just paid the interum but not the final dividend. But even without this final dividend, my remaining dividend income also grew by 25%. This is mainly the result of new positions in BEPC (here) and BIPC (here), additional purchases in Realty Income (here and here) and JNJ (here and here). Throw in some nice dividend increases from Shell, Aflac and some smaller raises from other companies and this is the result. This will be my final dividend from IBM. After 10 years I've decided to sell my position. Dividend growth from UNP has halted. This is nothing new and its growth is somewhat lumpy. I'll guess (or hope) they will raise it later this year.

So all in all a decent month!

In the graph above I've showed my monthly dividend income. You can see the big increase but it's not even all of it, since I've capped the vertical axis to € 1.000,-. 

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income. The cumulative dividend income made big jump from last month. I expect to see a little growth (compared to last year) in the coming months, but nothing too serious.

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 13.150. This is a big increase compared to last month. This is because I now use this as my base for the expected dividend during the coming 12 months.

How was your June? What is your watchlist for the next month?

Recent buy (ADP)

On 24 June I bought 8 shares of ADP for about $ 250 a share. These shares will deliver an annual dividend income of $45. This purchase will strengthen the technology segment of my portfolio.

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is a leading global provider of human capital management solutions. It was founded in 1949, and has a long history of paying dividends. ADP offers a wide range of services, including payroll, talent management, tax and benefits administration, and human resource outsourcing. The company serves over 860,000 clients across various industries.

ADP is recognized for its strong dividend characteristics. The company has consistently increased its dividend payout for almost 50 years. The 10-year dividend growth rate is 11% and shorter streaks show even higher dividend growth rates. This shows that the company is confident in its ability to boost earnings. The dividend yield is somewhat on the low side (2,2%) but its payout ratio and earnings forecast gives the company room to grow the dividend. ADP has a healthy balance sheet with a 40% debt-to-capital ratio, and a 40% return on equity.

Monthly report: May 2024

May is over! We're almost halfway this year! 

I had a few big winners with HASI (+36%!) leading the pack. MPW, WMT and TXN also had +10% gains this month. Biggest loser was BMY (-7%) but the rest of the losses were quite small, both in numbers as well as their declines.

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?!

A total of more than €190 after tax. Nine companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by about 10% compared to last year. This increase is mainly the result of my increased position in Realty Income (here and here). Deere's dividend increase also helps a lot!

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income for 2024 (which obviously is just the first five months of the year). The cumulative dividend income is about the same as last year at this point in time. I expect to see a little growth in the coming months, but nothing too serious. 

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 10.700.

How was your May? What is your watchlist?

Recent buy (BIPC) and sell (IBM)

On May 10th I made a new portfolio move consisting of a sell and a purchase.

I sold 7 shares of IBM for about $182 per share. I bought these shares about 10 years ago for $190. So in terms of share price appreciation these shares did nothing in the past 10 years. Including the dividend my purchased returned about 2,6% per year. Nothing really excited. Dividend growth was more or less non-existant in the past years with token, penny increases. Therefore I decided to close out my position and look for better avenues of dividend growth.  

As a replacement I bought 60 shares in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIPC) for about $35 per share. Brookfield Infrastructure is one of the largest owners and operators of critical global infrastructure networks which facilitate the movement and storage of energy, water, freight, passengers and data. BIPC is one of the few pure play, publicly traded, global infrastructure vehicles that invests in infrastructure assets with stable cash flows, high margins and strong growth prospects.

I've owned BIP a few years ago. As a result of U.S. Internal Revenue Regulations taking effect 1 January 2023, new withholding charges are applied to sales proceeds from certain Publicly Traded Partnerships ("PTPs”) held by investors who are not U.S. taxpayers. The amount of withholding is 10% of sale or distribution proceeds.  This means 10% of the amount of funds that would settle resulting from any transaction or distribution, not just 10% on any calculated profit. Therefore I sold my BIP position prior to this new regulation coming into effect. 

BIPC is not a PTP since it is a regular Canadian corporation, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

This purchase will add about $100 to my annual dividend income.

Monthly report: April 2024

April is over. It wasn't a good month in terms of stock prices. All the gains from March are more or less gone. I had a few big losers like Intel (-30%!), BMY (-17%),  IBM (-12%) and a lot more smaller losers. Furthermore I had some smaller winners like Unilever, Shell and PM but nothing really fancy. 

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?!

A total of just under € 300 in dividend income, about the same as last year. This increase is mainly the result of new purchases of Realty Income (here and here). Dividend growth for my other holdings is somewhat muted. Finally the dividend cut from MPW still has its effects.

In the graph below I've shown my monthly dividend income. You can see the rather small increase from April 2023 but the underlying trend is still up.

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income. The cumulative dividend income is about the same as last year at this point in time. I expect to see a little growth in the coming months, but nothing too serious.

Currently my annual dividend income is around about € 10.700, more or less the same as last month.

How was your April? What is your watchlist?

Monthly report: March 2024

March is over! Already the 3rd month of a new year.

All in all a decent month with rising stock markets. Biggest winners are Deere (+12%), XOM (+10%) and HASI/CMI/Shell (both +9%). Biggest losers are UNP and Intel (-3 to 4%).

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?!

A total of allmost €400 after tax. 14 companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by about 2% compared to last year including the FX-effect. This rather small increase had a few reasons:

• Dividend cut from Intel.
• Dividend cut from BHP

Without these events my "regular" dividend income grew nicely. This is mainly the result of additional purchases in UNP (here and more recently here), O (here and here), JNJ (here and here) Throw in some nice dividend increases from Shell and some smaller raises from other companies and this is the result.

So all in all a decent month!

In the graph above I've showed my monthly dividend income. You can see the rather small increase from March 2023 but the underlying trend is still up.

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income. The cumulative dividend income is about the same as last year at this point in time. I expect to see a little growth in the coming months, but nothing too serious. 

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 10.650. This is a slight increase compared to last month because of the purchase of BEPC, and a few DRIPS (Shell, Unilever).

How was your March? What is your watchlist for the next month?

Recent buy: Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEPC)

On March 5th I purchased 70 shares in Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEPC) for about $24 per share. Brookfield Renewable operates one of the world’s largest publicly traded platforms for renewable power and decarbonization solutions. Their portfolio consists of hydroelectric, wind, solar, distributed energy and sustainable solutions across five continents.

I've owned BEP a few years ago. As a result of U.S. Internal Revenue Regulations taking effect 1 January 2023, new withholding charges are applied to sales proceeds from certain Publicly Traded Partnerships ("PTPs”) held by investors who are not U.S. taxpayers. The amount of withholding is 10% of sale or distribution proceeds.  This means 10% of the amount of funds that would settle resulting from any transaction or distribution, not just 10% on any calculated profit. Therefore I sold my BEP position prior to this new regulation coming into effect. 

BEPC is not a PTP since it is a regular Canadian corporation, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

This purchase will add about $100 to my annual dividend income.