Recent buy: UNP

Three weeks ago I purchased 10 additional shares of Union Pacific. UNP operates North America's premier railroad franchise, covering 23 states in the western two-thirds of the United States.

My first purchase was back in May 2015. The stock price was about $108 and yielded 2,0% at the time. During the last year I purchased additional shares on two other occasions. Back in October 2022 10 shares and earlier this year 5 shares. The yield on these last purchases was around 2,4 tot 2,7%. For this recent purchase I paid $196 per share which puts the yield at 2,6%.

Over the 8 years I've had UNP in my portfolio the dividend on my original purchase has grown at more than 11% per year. Dividend growth is lumpy with years of 20% dividend growth and years with just 5%. I am more than pleased with the results of UNP. My total return for this position is just under 10%, so that includes dividend and stock price appreciation. UNP currently is my biggest equity position at 4,5% of my portfolio. Only the investment in my (own) employers company is bigger.

For now I guess my position in UNP seems full. This purchase adds about $50 to my forward annual dividend income.

Recent buy: AOS

This is a rather late post to mention the fact that I have opened a position in AOS. Back in February I bought 25 shares for about $66 per share. A few years ago I wrote an article on Seeking Alpha about the company and its growth prospects in China and India.

The current yield is rather low (about 1,8%) but so is the payout ratio (about 35%). The dividend has grown about 18% per year in the last 10 years. But it seems to be slowing down somewhat in the last 5 years but still a respectable rate of 13% per year.

This purchase will add about $30 to my forward annual dividend income.

 

Monthly report: April 2023

April is over! For almost three so this update is rather late, but I guess I was a bit buys.

April was a rather slow month. More than enough macro-economic news but the stock market didn't really react to it in a big way. We'll see what happens in the coming months. In the end it's all about the dividend income. Since I am not a seller of stocks at this point in my life, I don't really care about lower prices.

In my portfolio I had a few winners, like BAX (+18%), MDT (+14%) and MRK (+7%), but I also had some losers, mainly in the chip sector like TXN and CSCO (-10%), INTC and ASML (-7-8%). Deere also lost about 8%.

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 almost € 300 after tax. Nine companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by more than 125% compared to last year. This increase is mainly the result of an additional purchases in Ahold Delhaize (here), MPW (here and here), MDT (here) and Realty Income (here). Dividend growth for my other holdings are somewhat muted.

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income for 2023 (which obviously is just the first four months of the year). But the start is great, mainly due to the month of janary! What is awesome to see is that the income from last month is higher than my annual income from last year. I've take some serious steps.

Currently my annual dividend income is just over € 13.000.

How was your April? What is your watchlist?

Monthly report: March 2023

March is over! Already the 3rd month of a new year.  March was a hectic month with regards to the stock market. There were some serious up- and down days but I am not worried about that. In the end it's all about the dividend income. Since I am not a seller of stocks at this point in my life, I don't really care about lower prices.

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 almost €390 after tax. 14 companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by over 15% compared to last year. This increase is mainly the result of additional purchases in TROW (here), Intel (here), Aflac (here) UNP (here), CMI, JNJ (here) and O (here). Compared to last year I also had a new position in BLK (here and here). I lost my dividend income from BEP and BIP (here). For the next quarter ending month (June) Intel's dividend will be reduced due to a dividend cut. That's a shame of course, but sometimes that happens. 

So all in all a rather good month! I've used the dividend from Unilever and Shell to drip additional shares in both companies. I expect to use my available cash position to invest later in April.

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income for 2023 (which obviously is just the first three months of the year). But the start is great!

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 12.900.

How was your March? What is your watchlist?

Monthly report: February 2023

February is over! Already the 2nd month of a new year.  Just like January, February was also a hectic month with regards to the stock market. There were some serious up- and down days but I am not worried about that. In the end it's all about the dividend income. Since I am not a seller of stocks at this point in my life, I don't really care about lower prices.

In my portfolio I had a few big losers, like MPW (-14%), HASI (-17%), Intel/BAX (-14%) and BLK (-10%) but I also had some smaller winners, like AD and Shell (+9%).

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 €160 after tax. Eight companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by just over 47% compared to last year. This increase is mainly the result of my new position in ASML (here, here and here), TXN (here, here and here), APD (here and here) and an increases position in Realty Income (here).

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income for 2023 (which obviously is just the first two months of the year). But the start is great!

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 13.050. I still have to report a dividend cut from Intel and some other dividend raises.

How was your February? What is your watchlist?

Recent buy: MPW

 Last week I added to an existing holding. On February 16th 6 I purchased another 100 shares of MPW for about $ 13 per share. This new purchase adds almost $ 116 to my annual forward dividend income. I first bought shares in MPW about 6 months ago for $14 per share.

They had some (serious) operator troubles but seem to be handling it. Last week MPW announced that it has agreed to lease its entire Utah hospital portfolio to Catholic Health Initiatives Colorado, a wholly owned subsidiary of CommonSpirit Health (“CommonSpirit”), subsequent to CHIC’s pending acquisition of the Utah hospital business currently operated by Steward Health Care System (“Steward”). Centura Health (“Centura”) will manage the facilities for CHIC. The expected transaction will further MPT’s long-term efforts to improve portfolio diversification by property type, geography and, in this case, operator.

We'll see how this all works out, but I am doubling down on this high-yielder. A lot of people also suggested OHI needed to cut its high dividend, but it's been paying it for years now!

Monthly report: January 2023

January is over! Already the first month of a new year. Last year around this time COVID finally reached family. This year however is a lot less hectic, thankfully. 

January was a good start of year with regards to the stock market. There were some serious up- and down days but I am not worried about that. In the end it's all about the dividend income. Since I am not a seller of stocks at this point in my life, I don't really care about lower prices.

In my portfolio I had a few losers, like BAX (-10%) and JNJ (-8%), but I also had some big winners like ASML (+17%), BHP (+14%), MPW (+12%) and V (+11%). All things considered my portfolio increased about 3%.

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 almost € 6.000 after tax. For sure my biggest month ever! Nine companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by almost 600% compared to last year. This increase is mainly the result of an additional purchases in Brink (my employer), MPW (here), MDT (here) and Realty Income (here). Dividend growth for my other holdings are somewhat muted.

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income for 2023 (which obviously is just the first month of the year). But the start is great! What is awesome to see is that the income from last month is higher than my annual income from last year. I've take some serious steps.

Currently my annual dividend income is just over € 13.000. I still have to report some recent dividend raises and an addition to my portfolio. A hint: it is one of the winners from last month.

How was your January? What is your watchlist?