Three recent dividend increases (TROW, CSCO and BBL)

A few days ago I wrote about four recent dividend increases. The pace of raises continues with a few new raises! Of course I am happy with these raises, especially after a somewhat sobering 2020 in terms of dividend growth. So let's take a look at the raises.

T. Rowe Price

On February 9 T. Rowe Price (TROW) declared a $1.08/share quarterly dividend, which is a whopping 20% increase from its prior dividend of $0.90. Last year TROW increased its dividend by a massive 18% as well. I received five dividend raises since my purchase of TROW back in 2016. The quarterly dividend payment has exactly doubled since that time! My return on investment is currently around 20% per annum so I am not complaining.

Cisco

On the same day Cisco (CSCO) declared a $0.37/share quarterly dividend, which is modest 2.8% increase from its prior dividend of $0.36. I recently purchased shares in Cisco its my first dividend raise. It's not big raise but its one nonetheless. We'll see what happens next year!

BHP

Today BHP released their financial results for the half-year ended 31 December 2020. The results definitely looked solid with increasing earnings and margins, higher cashflow and shareholder returns and lower debt. They declared a dividend of $1,01 per share (which is $2,02 for the BBL shares). This is an increase of more than 50% compared to its March payment last year.

Summary

Together these raises increased my forward annual dividend income by roughly €30. Based on my portfolio's dividend yield of 3,9% I have to invest € 770 to get this kind of dividend income, but now I get it for free! Rock on!

Four recent dividend increases (BEP, BIP, INTC and Unilever)

During the last weeks I received a few dividend increases! Of course I am happy with these raises, especially after a somewhat sobering 2020 in terms of dividend growth. So let's take a look at the raises.

Intel

On January 21 Intel Corporation reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 financial results. The company also announced that its board of directors approved a cash dividend increase of five percent to $1.39 per share on an annual basis. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3475 per share on the company’s common stock, which will be payable on March 1 to shareholders of record on February 7.

Since my purchase of INTC shares back in 2013 the dividend growth has been around 6% annualy. That is not bad, but it's not swinging for the fences either. However based on the total stock return my purchase is a success nonetheless. Including dividends and FOREX changes my purchase yielded 16,5% annualy till now. I'll hang 'on for now.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partner

On February 2 Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) declared a $0.51/share quarterly dividend, which is a 5.2% increase from its prior dividend of $0.48. It's my first dividend raise from BIP since I purchased shares only in July 2020. With its current yield of around 4% a raise of 5% is right around what you can expect I guess. I'll take it!

Brookfield Renewable Partners

On February 4 Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP) declared a $0.3038/share quarterly dividend, which is a 5.1% increase from its prior dividend of $0.2890 (split adjusted). It's my second dividend raise from BEP since I purchased shares back in 2019. I definitely want to add to this position because I believe in its business model, but shares have soared since my purchase. My original purchase had a dividend yield of almost 6%, currently BEP shares have a dividend yield of just 2,6%. That's a big difference. I'll just have to wait a bit I guess.

Unilever

On February 4 the maker of Marmite and Dove soap raised the dividend by 4% to €0,4268 per share. This is my 7th raise since my original purchase back in 2013. Dividend growth during that timeframe is around 6,6% annualy which seems more than fine, considering its current dividend yield of 3,7%. However total return has been a bit muted with 'just' 6,9% per year. I'd consider adding a few shares at its current valuation but it is one of my bigger positions already so maybe I'll just have to wait.

Summary

In total I received four dividend raises which raised my forward dividend income by about € 12,50. Based on my portfolio's dividend yield of 3,8% I have to invest € 330 to get this kind of dividend income, but now I get it for free!

Let's see what more 2021 has to offer!

Dividend report: January 2021

It's the first time of the year for my monthly dividend report! It's crazy to see that January is already over. 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?!

That's some dividend income right there! It's almost doubled compared to last year! My own employer decided to pay a dividend because our financiel results last year were solid, even with COVID-19. There's also a kicker because the final dividend from fiscal year 2019 wasn't paid last year due to the uncertainties. Together with my extra purchase of 20 shares last year the dividend payment ballooned to €600 before taxes.

However my dollar-denominated growth wasn't too bad either. Small annual increases from WMT, PM, O and a somewhat bigger increase from BAX. One of my latest additions CISCO also paid its dividend for the first time in january.

So its definitely a good start in 2021! In the last week I also received a few dividend increases which raised my forward dividend income to € 1.900, but more on that in a later post. I am also close to reaching the € 50.000 milestone in portfolio value. We'll see what happens in the market in the coming weeks.

How was your first month of the year?

Dividend report: December 2020

I am two weeks later, but we're done with December! It's the last time of the year for a monthly update. 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?!

Compared to last year my dividend income more or less remained the same. I received about € 154 after taxes, compared to € 158 last year. In total I got paid by 13 different companies. Some of my holdings showed some dividend growth. TROW is the biggest autonomous dividend grower, the rest of the bigger increase is due to additional share purchases. The decline in income is explained by a change in the USD.EUR exchange rate. Without the 9% decline in USD.EUR I would have had a 4% increase in dividend income. But hey, who cares!

In total I received about € 1.450 in dividens, which is 8% more than last year. That is rather disappointing but given the circumstances of last year not too bad. Dividend growth was muted in most cases and I even experienced some cuts. The decline in USD.EUR did the rest.  But I guess that gives a lot of room for improvement in 2021. I am bit behind my medium to long term goals so I better step up and increase the pace.

How was your month? what are your plans for this year?

Recent buy: Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)

On one of the last days of 2020 I added a position in Bristol-Myers Squibb (ticker: BMY). I wanted to strengthen the healthcare part of my portfolio. I only held JNJ and Baxter and wanted to diversify a bit further by adding a big pharmaceutical company to my roster.

I hesitated between purchasing shares of Bristol-Meyers, Pfizer or Abbvie. I compared their yields, valuation and other financial indicators but the differences were actually rather limited. I find it difficult to judge how their pipelines look and what I can expect in terms of future revenue growth between these companies. In the end, I went with BMY because of their slightly better valuation. Their ex-dividend date is actually today (not really a coincidence) so I expect to receive my first dividend payment February 1.

I added 22 shares for about $61,60 per share. This purchase will add roughly € 35 to my annual dividend income stream which stands at around € 1.840 pre-tax.

What do you think of my purchase?

Dividend raise: Realty Income and Aflac

I totally forgot about these two raises weeks ago but for the sake of full transparancy and completeness of my journey, I'll post 'em.

A few weeks ago Aflac has raised their dividend by a whopping 18%! This is much higher compared to their raises earlier in 2020 and 2019 which were around 4%. Because I added to my position in Aflac earlier this year, this raise will add more than € 13 to my annual dividend income. That's the biggest raise in absolut terms I have ever received from a public company. The new dividend will be paid in Q1 2021 for the first time, so I will count this as a raise in 2021.

More recently, Realty Income Corporation (Realty Income, NYSE: O) announced its Board of Directors has declared an increase in the company's common stock monthly cash dividend to $0.2345 per share from $0.234 per share. This raise adds a whopping € 0,12 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. I will count this as their first raise in 2021. Hopefully there's more to come next year!

Dividend report: November 2020

We're already done with November! 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?!

Compared to last year my dividend income more or less remained the same. I received about € 87 after taxes, compared to € 92 last year. In total I got paid by 5 different companies. Three of my holdings showed some dividend growth albeit small. The decline in income is explained by a change in the USD.EUR exchange rate.



I am still ahead compared to the cumulative total I received last year till now. I still aim for an increase this year, but it won't be a growth of 40% as targeted but maybe something like 10%. We'll see what happens! In the meantime, I just keep grinding away, putting money to work and reap the rewards down the line.

How was your month? Do you see values in the current marketplace?