Welcome back to Dividend Dollars and our weekly review!
We saw a whipsaw week in the market with gains made on Monday and Tuesday that were later wiped out leaving the S&P at a 0.1% gain for the week. From a sector perspective, cyclical financials, energy, and industrials were the worst performers while real estate, utilities, and consumer staple stocks outperformed.
The week started with good momentum while supposed cease fire talks were taking place. Stocks rallied even as the treasury yield 2-10 spread inverted on Tuesday which is historically a signal of a coming recession. Those gains were removed through the end of the week as Russia refused progress in cease fire talks, inflationary measures hit high levels, March employment numbers reported well but support additional expected hawkishness form the Fed, and investors balances and took profits for quarter-end.
Now let’s move on to reviewing our portfolio’s performance for the week.
Portfolio Value
To date, I have invested $7,780 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $8,317.33. That’s a gain of $537.33 for a total return of 6.91%. The account is up $17.89 for the week which is a 0.22% gain.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is up 2.01% whereas our portfolio has an overall return of 6.91%! Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $240 in cash to the account this week. The stock purchases made with this will be broken out below.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio that tracks annual dividend income, yield, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week.
This week our annual dividend income increased by $10. Our dividend yield and beta stayed flat. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than what you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which helps me realize the benefits of compounding sooner.
Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which is good, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity. View the chart above to see the performance of my portfolio versus the S&P 500, notice how my portfolio’s green days are not as substantial as the S&P’s but neither are my red days, that is beta at work. My beta so far has led to better returns than the market since beginning this portfolio, however, on rally weeks I underperform. In order to combat that, I have started adding to a levered position to raise my beta. I would like to see it in the 0.8s.
Dividends
This week we received $9.77 in dividends from six tickers. $1.64 from SCHD, $1.86 from XYLD, $3.09 from EOG, $1.70 from ALL, $1.04 from PB, and $0.44 from KO.
In my portfolio, all positions have dividend reinvestment enabled. I don’t hold onto the dividend, I don’t try to time the reinvestment, I just let my broker do it automatically. All dividends were reinvested (except for KO, that will be reinvested on Monday).
Dividends received for 2022: $73.25
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $96.17
Trades
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
March 28th
T – added 2 shares at $23.98
UWMC – sold 4/1 $5 cover call for $1 premium (expired worthless for a $1 gain)
SCHD – dividend reinvested $1.64 at $79.73 per share
March 29th
SNDL – covered my put position from last week ($1 loss)
XYLD – dividend reinvested $1.86 at $46.69 per share
EOG – dividend reinvested $3.09 at $121.84 per share
March 30th
SCHD – added 0.125447 shares at $79.71 (recurring investment)
XYLD – added 0.201523 shares at $49.62 (recurring investment)
O – added 0.5 shares at $70.32
March 31st
BBY – added 1 share at $91.67
CMCSA – added 1 share at $47.11
April 1st
UWMC – added 1 share at $4.44
ALL – dividend received $1.70 (not reinvested closed position)
PB – dividend received $1.04 (not reinvested closed position)
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
Welcome back to Dividend Dollars and our weekly review!
We saw a good amount of volatility in the market this week. The indices all ended higher. The S&P 500 tugged with its 200 day simple moving average since last week but was able to end above it this week hitting a six week high.
10 of the 11 sectors ended positive this week with healthcare being the only one to record a loss of 0.2%. The energy sector gained 7.4% and was mostly supported by crude oil which gained 10.5% for the week. The Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to keep key commodities at elevated prices.
This week Biden made appearances in Europe and Chevron received clearance to resume operations in Venezuela.
Oil and defense positions continue to crush it, but the market as whole has had two solid weeks in a row. Let’s see if it keeps up next week! Moving on to our performance now.
Portfolio Value
To date, I have invested $7,540 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $8,087.95. That’s a gain of $547.95 for a total return of 7.27%. The account is up $101.64 for the week which is a 1.27% gain.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is up 1.97% whereas our portfolio has an overall return of 7.27%! Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $120 to the account this week. This week I did some reshuffling within my portfolio. I sold my positions in PB and ALL and moved that money into a new $BAC position. I did this because I don’t think ALL is set up to adjust to the changing channel environment within the insurance industry. I also believe that rising rates will be good for banks, however I wanted exposure to a larger, nationwide bank. I sold my CAH position and rolled it into an MRK position which I believe is better positioned to benefit from the growing healthcare industry. I also sold my WBA and SJM positions in order to consolidate my positions within the consumer staples industry. I used those funds to add to MRK and MO. Lastly, I also sold my small HD position simple because I felt that I was starting that position at too high an entry point. I think with pandemic easement, rising rates, and growing inflation that HD and LOW will experience some downside which is when I plan to enter.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio that tracks annual dividend income, yield, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week.
This week our annual dividend income dropped by $9 as a result of the AT&T dividend cut following the Warner spinoff planned for next month. Our dividend yield decreased by 0.22% and our beta increase by 0.01. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than what you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which helps me realize the benefits of compounding sooner.
Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which is good, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity. View the chart above to see the performance of my portfolio versus the S&P 500, notice how my portfolio’s green days are not as substantial as the S&P’s but neither are my red days, that is beta at work. My beta so far has led to better returns than the market since beginning this portfolio, however, on rally weeks I underperform. In order to combat that, I am going to start adding to a levered position to raise my beta. I would like to see it in the 0.8s.
Dividends
This week we received two dividends: one from HD for $0.57, this was not reinvested, and the other from LMT for $5.64 to be reinvested on Monday.
Dividends received for 2022: $63.48
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $86.40
Trades
As detailed above, we did some restructuring in the portfolio this week. We also had some option activity.
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
March 21st
APD – added 0.3 shares at $234.80
XYLD – added 0.20491 shares at $48.80 (recurring investment)
SMHB – added 1 share at $11.22
March 22nd
ALL – sold 2 shares at $137.10
PB – sold 2 shares at $71.45
CAH – sold 2.018676 at $57.48
WBA – sold 2.029713 at $47.23
SJM – sold 1.511712 at $129.87
BAC – bought 8 shares at $43.93
MRK – bought 3 shares at $79.36
MO – added 2 shares at $53.12
MKC – added 1 share at $96.10
March 23rd
HD – sold 0.5 shares at $317.78
MMM – added 0.4 shares at $148.15
CMCSA – added 1 share at 46.82
O – added 0.3 shares at $67.03
UWMC – added 3 shares at $4.55
SCHD – added 0.127976 shares at $78.14 (recurring investment)
March 24th
UWMC – opened a $4.5 4/14 covered call for $18 premium
BBY – added 0.4 shares at $96.05
March 25th
UWMC – closed position at $12
SNDL – opened $0.5 4/8 put position at $3
O – added 0.5 shares at $67.56
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
Welcome back to Dividend Dollars and our weekly review!
What a week it was for the market! The S&P went on a tear, with a four-day win streak that rallied 6.2% for the week. The other major indexes were up of 5% as well. 10 of the 11 S&P sectors made gains, energy was the only sector to fall.
Overall, there was no single event that caused the rally, instead it was a combination of a lot of factors and good news that created an amazing week. The fed chair reaffirmed confidence in the economy, ceasefire talks are showing progress, and oil prices fell over 5%. Now, this is all relatively good news, but perspective is still important here as the Fed did state that growth rates in 2023 and 2024 could suffer, Russia has continued bombing, and oil still is above $100 per barrel. Inflation is still high as well as shown by the PPI reading this month.
The market is seeing a light at the end of the tunnel in a couple of aspects and bounce was about due. Let’s see if it keeps up this next week! Moving on to our performance now.
Portfolio Value
Last week our portfolio mad gains, but not nearly as well as the rest of the market. With my portfolio’s low beta, this is to be expected. Also, this tends to be the nature of a dividend account. In order to raise my beta a tad and take advantage of holding riskier assets long term, I decided to play with a leveraged position this week. More on that down below.
To date, I have invested $7,420 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $7,859.55. That’s a gain of $439.55 for a total return of 5.92%. The account is up $181.10 for the week which is a 2.36% gain.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is up 0.17% whereas our portfolio has an overall return of 5.92%! Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $230 to the account this week. My buys are detailed below.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio that tracks annual dividend income, yield, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week.
This week our activity raised our annual dividend income by $11. Our dividend yield decreased by 0.1% and our beta dropped 0.03. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than what you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which helps me realize the benefits of compounding sooner.
Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which is good, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity. View the chart above to see the performance of my portfolio versus the S&P 500, notice how my portfolio’s green days are not as substantial as the S&P’s but neither are my red days, that is beta at work. My beta so far has led to better returns than the market since beginning this portfolio, however, on rally weeks I underperform. In order to combat that, I am going to start adding to a levered position to raise my beta. I would like to see it in the 0.8s.
Dividends
This week we received dividends from 4 positions: $0.96 from WBA, $3.59 from MMM, $1.28 from NEE, and $1.05 from O
Dividends received for 2022: $57.27
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $80.19
Trades
This week we made some flubs with selling covered calls on UWMC and added a new levered position to our account. As I start to learn more about using options to boost cashflow, I will start to include charts/tables in this trade section so that we can start to track option gains individually.
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
March 14th
SBUX – added 0.3 shares at $79.77
INTC – added 0.5 shares at $44.76
APD – added 0.2 shares at $217.40
UWMC – closed $5.5 covered call from two weeks ago for a $2 gain
MMM – dividend of $3.59 reinvested
March 15th
UWMC – opened and closed a $5 3/25 covered call for a $1 gain
UWMC – opened a $4 3/18 covered call for $13 premium
NEE – dividend of $1.28 reinvested
O – dividend of $1.05 reinvested
March 16th
UWMC – closed $4 position for a $27 loss
HD – added 0.2 shares at $332.35
XYLD – added 0.207011 shares at $48.31 (recurring investment)
SCHD – added 0.129183 shares at $77.41 (recurring investment)
March 17th
SMHB – bought 2 shares at $11.31 (new position)
UWMC – opened a $5 3/18 covered call for $2 premium
March 18th
SMHB – added 0.5 shares at 11.24
UWMC – covered call position expired for $2 gain
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
The market ended red this week after finding itself unable to climb out of the whole that high oil prices had put it in, despite the fact that oil prices eventually cooled off after flirting with $130 per barrel. The initial spike to $130 was in anticipation of bans on Russian energy imports. The US banned it and the UK and EU said they would phase out of Russian energy imports this year. WTI futures ended the week at $109.
Even though oil is dropping, our economic environment is still one of high inflation. Total CPI for the year is up 7.9%
The Russia-Ukraine situation continues to keep markets volatile. Ceasefire talks continue to make no progress. Treasury yields spiked, Nickel soared, AMZN announced a stock split, and the S&P ended fell 2.9% for an overall eventful week! Let’s see how we fared.
Portfolio Value
Last week our portfolio soared while the S&P lost more than 1% due to our positions in oil and defense. This week was another red week for the market, and this time our portfolio was not immune to those actions.
To date, I have invested $7,190 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $7,399.46 . That’s a gain of $209.46 for a total return of 2.91%. The account is down $177.44 for the week which is a 2.34% loss.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is down 5.64% whereas our portfolio has an overall return of 2.91%! Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $170 to the account this week. My buys are detailed below.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio that tracks annual dividend income, yield, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week.
This week our activity raised our annual dividend income by $5. Our dividend yield increased by 0.08% and our beta stayed flat. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than what you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which helps me realize the benefits of compounding sooner.
Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which I like, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity. View the chart above to see the performance of my portfolio versus the S&P 500, notice how my portfolio’s green days are not as substantial as the S&P’s but neither are my red days, that is beta at work. My beta so far has led to better returns than the market since beginning this portfolio.
Dividends
This week we received dividends from 3 positions: $3.90 from AMGN, $0.62 from MSFT, and $1.42 from CVX. All dividends were reinvested. We are expecting another dividend from WBA for $0.96 to hit our account on Monday.
Dividends received for 2022: $51.36
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $74.28
Trades
This week I did some portfolio reorganizing. I liquidated my position on my Canadian companies (CNQ and TD) because I decided that extra tax wasn’t worth it in the long run for me. Selling those positions allowed me a realize some decent gains on CNQ and put that money elsewere.
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
March 7th
SBUX – added 0.2 shares at $87.85
APD – added 0.1 shares at $224.00
O – added 0.5 shares at $65.32
CNQ – sold position at $59.71 per share for a 40% gain
TD – sold position at $76.39 per share for a 6% gain
PB – bought 2 shares at $71.62 (new position from the CNQ & TD proceeds)
CMI – added 0.2 shares at $191.80
March 8th
APD – added 0.2 shares at $218.35
AMGN – dividend of $3.90 reinvested
March 9th
XYLD – added 0.209556 shares at $47.72 (recurring investment)
SCHD – added 0.130074 shares at $76.88 (recurring investment)
March 10th
BBY – added 0.5 shares at $98.20
MSFT – dividend of $0.62 reinvested
CVX – dividend of $1.42 reinvested
March 11th
BBY – added 0.1 shares at $97.30
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
The market ended red this week after rocketing oil prices dampened risk sentiment driven by the worsening situation in Ukraine. The Nasdaq dropped 2.8% and the S&P dropped 1.3%. Oil was responsible for the 9.3% gain in the S&P’s energy sector, with utilities, real estate, and defense sectors also making gains. Financial, information technology, communication services, and consumer discretionary sectors were the laggards.
Russian forces attacked civilian areas in Ukraine and seized and shot at an important nuclear power plant. Sanctions have not slowed down Putin’s mission and two rounds of peace talks have appeared to make no beneficial progress.
Fed Chair Powell clarified that the central bank supports a 25 bp rate hike later this month. A 50 bp hike is still possible in the future, but our attempts to fight inflation are significantly weakened due to raising oil prices and the geo-political environment we find ourselves in.
Portfolio Value
Though it was a red week for the markets, we had one of our best weeks to date with LMT and our oil positions leading the way. To date, I have invested $7,020 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $7,425.73 . That’s a gain of $405.73 for a total return of 5.78%. The account is up $238.78 for the week which is a 3.32% gain.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is down 2.84% whereas our portfolio has an overall return of 5.78%! Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $270 to the account this week. My buys are detailed below.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio that tracks annual dividend income, yield, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week. The company names in blue are stocks that have been previously picked as a stock pick. I use a stock screener to find potentially undervalued stocks with safe and growing dividends. You can find last month’s watchlist here, going forward I will be doing heavy DD on monthly stock pick instead of multiple. Keep your eyes open for the first one on MMM in the coming weeks!
This week our activity raised our annual dividend income by $16. Our dividend yield decreased by 0.03% and our beta stayed flat. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than what you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which help me realize the benefits of compounding sooner. Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which I like, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity. View the chart below to see the performance of my portfolio versus the S&P 500, notice how my portfolio’s green days are not as substantial as the S&P’s but neither are my red days, that is beta at work. My beta so far has led to better returns than the market since beginning this portfolio.
Dividends
This week we received dividends from 6 positions: $0.70 from REYN, $1.49 from SJM, $0.40 from AFL, $1.10 from INTC, $1.37 from XYLD, and $0.65 from CMI.
Dividends received for 2022: $44.46
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $67.39
Trades
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
March 1st
UWMC – added 2 shares at $4.05
T – added 1 share at $23.47
APD – added 0.2 shares at 231.15
SJM – dividend of $1.49 reinvested
AFL – dividend of $0.40 reinvested
INTC – dividend of $1.10 reinvested
March 2nd
BBY – added 0.2 shares at 98.45
UWMC – added 1 share at $4.56
UWMC – sold a $5 call ¾ for $2 premium
XYLD – added 0.207695 shares at $48.15 (recurring investment)
SCHD – added 0.128535 shares at $77.80 (recurring investment)
SBUX – added 1 share at $92.68
XYLD – dividend of $1.37 reinvested
March 3rd
UWMC – closed covered call position for $1
CMI – dividend of $0.65 reinvested
March 4th
UWMC – sold $5.5 call 3/25 for $4
T – added 2 shares at $23.77
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
As you know, it is the beginning of March, and the start of a new month means I write and publish another watchlist of potentially undervalued dividend growth stocks.
I sat down at my computer today, ready to screen for stocks, analyze their charts, and do some research into debt and cashflow levels just as I usually do. When I started researching today, I found that the stocks I was picking were not stocks that I would be purchasing myself.
Up to this point, I have bought and held every watch-listed stock that I have shared and am very pleased to say that these picks have outperformed the market.
But now, with a portfolio that is built of 29 strong dividend payers, I feel that it is no longer smart for me to continue adding positions.
Though there are plenty of other good stocks out there with awesome buying opportunities right now, it doesn’t make sense for me to add them to my portfolio. It doesn’t feel right for me to research and share stocks that I won’t buy and hold myself.
Therefore, going forward there will be no more monthly stock picks.
Instead, I will do a deep dive into a dividend stock of my choosing (possibly with the added help of Twitter polls to influence my choice). Like my watchlist, this stock will be one that is fundamentally undervalued, a strong dividend payer, with good timing to buy and take advantage of gains and dividends.
This monthly stock will be one that I will personally look to buy throughout the month, and because I am not actively looking to add more positions, there is a strong chance that these deep dives will be on positions we already have.
These monthly deep dives will be an exercise in reviewing our positions in order to identify good times to add or liquidate if needed and that research and decision making will be shared on this website here for your benefit.
However, if there are opportunities I can’t pass up, or if I reorganize the portfolio, these monthly deep dives can still be used to analyze potential new positions
So by all means, still treat these monthly deep dives as a monthly stock pick. Now that our portfolio’s positions are established, the purpose of this due diligence is to strengthen our conviction in our holdings and identify good timing to build these positions.
The market was red this with most indexes posting a larger than 1.5% loss for the week driven by worsening Russia-Ukraine developments. Risk sentiment was further emphasized by lack luster growth-stock earnings reactions and Fed concerns regarding a policy mistake.
10 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors ended the week negative with consumer staples being the only sector to have closed higher. Tough week for the market and our portfolio! Every week I write an update on the dividend portfolio as we build it so that we can track its progress. I will give an overview of what the portfolio is invested in, its value, the dividends received, trades made, and any news or business announcements that may be of interest to our positions.
Portfolio Value
To date, I have invested $6,285 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $6,443.00 . That’s a gain of $158.00 for a total return of 2.51%. The account is down $70.58 for the week which is a 1.08% loss.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is down 2.39% whereas our portfolio has an over return of 2.5%! Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $185 to the account this week. A significant chunk of that money added was put towards adding buys in MMM and INTC. Both stocks had steep drops this week that we took advantage of. Continue to the trades section of this article to read about why these stocks dipped.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio as tracked through simplysafedividends.com. I use that site for tracking forecasted dividend income, yield, annual income, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week. Usually, a chunk of my buys throughout the week are buys from my monthly stock picks. You can read about February’s stock picks here. I use a stock screener to find potentially undervalued stocks with safe and growing dividends. All stock picks (for this month and previous months) are highlighted in blue.
This week our activity raised our annual dividend income by $9. Our dividend yield increased by 0.07% and our beta decreased by 0.04. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than what you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which help me realize the benefits of compounding sooner. Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which I like, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity. View the chart below to see the performance of my portfolio versus the S&P 500, notice how my portfolio’s green days are not as substantial as the S&P’s but neither are my red days, that is beta at work. My beta so far has led to better returns than the market since beginning this portfolio.
Dividends
This week we received two dividends for a total of $5.15: $4.16 from MMP (a position I liquidated last week) and $0.99 from O (reinvested).
Dividends received for 2022: $38.71
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $61.63
Trades
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
February 14th
MMM – added 0.4 shares at $156
INTC – added 0.5 shares at $48.14
O – added 0.2 shares at $67.45
February 15th
UWMC – added 1 share at $4.43
O – dividend reinvested for 0.014713 shares at $67.29
February 16th
XYLD – added 0.203933 shares at $49.04 (recurring investment)
SCHD – added 0.128569 shares at $77.78 (recurring investment)
UWMC – sold $% 2/18 call for $2.00 premium
February 17th
MMM – added 0.1 shares at $150
February 18th
UWMC call expired at $0
INTC – added 1 share at $45.11
Noteworthy News
This section of the post will identify some headlines that may be of import to our positions. If they are important enough, we will also call out in the posts if the news calls for actions to readjust our portfolio.
As you see with my buys this week, most of money was put towards adds in MMM and INTC to take advantage of their drops this week.
MMM releases 2022 financial guidance on Monday
The industrial conglomerate released a presentation that contained a few surprises or shifts in their strategy, but the main takeaway was that management did not offer any updates on 3M’s biggest issues: the legal liabilities concerning the PFAS chemicals and military earplugs that are looming over 3M’s balance sheet.
The bellwether trials for the PFAS litigations are expected to begin in early 2023. These trials will give us a clearer idea of the settlement payouts we can expect for the groundwater contamination. Meanwhile, the EPA seeks to classify certain PFAS chemicals as “hazardous substances” by mid-2023. If successful, manufacturing facilities would be required to report releases of PFAS chemicals and the EPA would have more leeway to pursue responsible parties, like 3M, as they analyze sites and determine remediation costs for cleanup. Some analysts expect 3M’s settlements and remediation expenses for the PFAS litigations to cost around $10 billion but a worst-case scenario could be as bad as $30 billion according to a Bloomberg analyst.
3M’s earplug liabilities could be even worse. In 2008, 3M bought a business that sold government approved combat earplugs from 2003 through 2015 when the product was discontinued. The first lawsuit for the earplugs surfaced in December of 2018 when a veteran claimed they had hearing damage because of 3M’s faulty earplugs. At current, 3M has been served lawsuits representing over 13,000 individual claims with similar allegations. Another 290,000 unfiled and unverified claims have been maintained in the court. Sounds bad, however, unverified claims are essentially a list of veterans with few details such as where they served or if they ever really used the product. I expect some of these claims to get dismissed, but the potential liabilities are still a major headwind for the company. Different types of hearing loss result in different settlement amounts. These amounts range from $14,000 for inner ear dysfunction to over $1.5 million for total hearing loss. If we assume 3M settles 300,00 claims and pay an average of $100,000 per claim, then that would be a total liability of $30 billion. But if half of these claims are dismissed and the average payout halved as well, then that total liability could fall to $7.5 billion. Bellwether trials started in 2021 and through January 2022, 3M has won 5 of the 11 trials. Another 5 trials are scheduled between March and May. 3M plans to appeal the adverse verdicts which is a process expected to take up to 18 months. Once the fog settles will be when 3M really determines how to push forward with a potential settlement.
Overall, the PFAS and earplug liabilities could cost anywhere between $10 – $50 billion with payouts likely to happen over a course of years. 3M retains about $2.5 billion of free cash flow annually after paying dividends. To cover future settlement costs and avoid cutting the dividend, 3M would need to squeeze its healthy balance sheet to plug the gap. Assuming settlement payouts are spread over years and 3M uses all of its retained free cash flow to pay down debt, I expect 3M would be able to handle this $10 – $50 billion settlement amount while keeping the dividend intact. However, this is just an assumption until we know more about the magnitude and timing of the looming liabilities.
I, however, remain bullish. Given MMM’s lackluster dividend increase last week, I see the company is already preparing to lean on their strong balance sheet to see these liabilities through. After which we will begin to see greener pastures. As a dividend investor, I see this as a good long-term opportunity to build a substantial position in an established company and dividend payer that will continue to be successful in the long run.
INTC 2022 Investor Meeting
On Thursday, Intel held their 2022 Investor Meeting and outlined some elements of their strategy and path to long-term growth during these unprecedented times for semiconductors.
Analysts were disappointed with their short and medium-term goals. This investor day focused primarily on extremely long-term bullish forecasts for which shares are pricing in little to no chance of success with a 5% dip in price on Friday.
Intel laid out its planned recovery under CEO Pat Gelsinger who is cutting profit to build out manufacturing capacity. Executives admitted that it will be years before this investment pays off. They expect gross margins of 51% to 53% till 2024, then 54% to 58% from 2025 onwards and negative cashflow of $1 to $2 billion in 2022 and expected free cash flow of 20% of revenue by 2026 and initial single digit revenue growth expanding into double digits by 2026.
The announcement of another delay in chip rollout also didn’t help with the dismal reaction to the meeting. Intel’s 7 nanometer data center chip meant to be the successor to their 10 nanometer Sapphire Rapids chip was pushed back from 2023 to 2024.
Intel paints a increasingly bullish picture for where they see themselves going in the long term. I think Gelsinger is beginning the long process of turning the ship around and he’s taken many steps within his first year as captain to get that done. It has been anticipated that FCF and margins will suffer while this happens, but in the long term it may pay off. I think the 5% dip on Friday is an overreaction. This meeting presented things most analysts already assumed; the only real news was the chip delay. Given my time horizon, if INTC is a poor performing stock for the next few years, I won’t be made about it. I will continue to add and patiently await the long-term success Intel is setting themselves up for.
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
We have survived another red week in the market with most indexes posting a larger than 1% loss for the week meanwhile our account ended higher by 0.5%!
Every week I write an update on the dividend portfolio as we build it so that we can track its progress. I will give an overview of what the portfolio is invested in, its value, the dividends received, trades made, and any news or business announcements that may be of interest to our positions.
Portfolio Value
To date, I have invested $6,100 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $6,340.48. That’s a gain of $240.48 for a total return of 3.94%. The account is up $32.75 for the week which is a 0.52% gain.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is down 0.83%! Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $165 to the account this week. A significant chunk of that money added was put towards adding buys in CMI, a stock from our monthly watchlist.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio as tracked through simplysafedividends.com. I use that site for tracking forecasted dividend income, yield, annual income, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week. Usually, a chunk of my buys throughout the week are buys from my monthly stock picks. You can read about February’s stock picks here. I use a stock screener to find potentially undervalued stocks with safe and growing dividends. All stock picks (for this month and previous months) are highlighted in blue.
This week our activity lowered our annual dividend income by $6. Our dividend yield decreased by 0.23% and our beta remained flat. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which help me realize the benefits of compounding sooner. Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which I like, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity.
This week I did some reorganizing of a couple of oil/energy positions to better consolidate the money I have invested in those segments. You can see those trades below.
Dividends
This week we received one dividend from EPD for $2.79 that will be reinvested tomorrow.
Dividends received for 2022: $33.56
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $56.48
Trades
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
February 7th
UWMC – sold 1 $5 2/18 covered call for a $5 premium
February 8th
T – added 1 share at $23.96
February 9th
XYLD – added 0.202454 shares at $49.139 (recurring investment)
SCHD – added 0.125395 shares at $79.75 (recurring investment)
February 10th
CMI – bought 0.45 shares at $225.78 (new position)
UWMC – added 1 share at $4.66
February 11th
MMP – sold 4 shares at $48.13 (closed position)
AQN – sold 3.030818 shares at $14.13 (closed position)
NEE – bought 3 shares at $75.66 (new position started from MMP and AQN sells)
T – added 1 share at $24.33
UWMC – added 1 share at $4.44
Noteworthy News
This section of the post will identify some headlines that may be of import to our positions. If they are important enough, we will also call out in the posts if the news calls for actions to readjust our portfolio.
Unfortunately, I was so busy this week that I did not follow news on positions, so I have nothing to share here. Hopefully, I’ll have some content for this section next week!
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
This week was a tad better than last with all indexes posting some minor gains. Data highlights this week included some strong job reports and rising treasury yields to finish us strong for the week.
Unfortunately, my portfolio didn’t fare so well and we will get into why! Every week I write an update on the dividend portfolio as we build it so that we can track its progress. I will give an overview of what the portfolio is invested in, its value, the dividends received, trades made, and any news or business announcements that may be of interest to our positions.
Portfolio Value
To date, I have invested $5,935 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $6,120.91. That’s a gain of $185.91 for a total return of 3.13%. The account is down $61.98 for the week which is a flat 1% loss.
We started building this portfolio on 9/24/2021 and when compared to the S&P 500 we are outperforming the market so far! Within that same timeframe, the S&P 500 is up only 1.01%. Let’s keep up this good progress with smart adds to the portfolio.
We added $250 to the account this week. A significant chunk of that money added was put towards my position in 3M as you will see further down.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio as tracked through simplysafedividends.com. I use that site for tracking forecasted dividend income, yield, annual income, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week. Usually, a chunk of my buys throughout the week are buys from my monthly stock picks. You can read about January’s stock picks here (I know I am late but February’s picks will be here soon!). I use a stock screener to find potentially undervalued stocks with safe and growing dividends. All stock picks (for this month and previous months) are highlighted in blue.
This week our activity raised our annual dividend income by $14. Our dividend yield increased by 0.11% and our beta remained flat. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which help me realize the benefits of compounding sooner. Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which I like, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity.
This week I just had to buy the dip on 3M following their poorly received earnings report. MMM reported $2.31 EPS beating the estimates by $0.29. Revenue has been relatively flat for the company for the last three years, yet the price has been declining. That seems unreasonable to me and this substantial dip gave me a good opportunity to buy!
Also, this week I added one share to my AT&T position following their update. T announced that they are cutting the dividend by 47% and are structuring their Warner Bros. deal as a spinoff instead of an exchange offer. The 47% dividend cut still keeps shares over a 4% dividend yield which is still attractive. The spinoff deal also will give shareholders 0.24 shares in the new entity for every share of T they own. As an investor who has only recently started building a position in T, this is great news. My position is only down 2%, my dividend yield is still strong following the cut, and I get a new (and fairly costless) position in the new WBD stock. I will keep watching for opportunities to add to T before the spinoff.
Aside from those two reasonable moves, I made more moves with UWMC. Shortly after starting this position it became the best position in my portfolio. It has quickly become my worst holding now, down 25%. I keep adding on the dips. I think long term, as long as leadership play their cards right to fix the float, UWMC will be a homerun. However, it must be watched extremely closely to make sure steps are being taken to get us there. I will read thoroughly their next earnings report and decide if an exit may be smart. But for now, we sit, wait, and collect the dividends and covered call premiums.
Dividends
This week we received dividends from MFA for $2.86, T for $5.72, VZ for $2.56, and XYLD for $0.96.
Dividends received for 2022: $9.24
Portfolio’s Lifetime Dividends: $53.69
Trades
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
January 31st
MMM – added 1 share at $163.79
TD – added $0.59 from dividend reinvestment at $80.08
February 1st
T – added 1 share at $24.30
UWMC – added 4 shares at $4.88
VZ – added $2.56 from dividend reinvestment at $53.56
T – added $5.72 from dividend reinvestment at $24.24
XYLD – added $0.96 from dividend reinvestment at $49.19
February 2nd
XYLD – added 0.203294 shares at $49.19 (recurring investment)
SCHD – added 0.125826 shares at $79.47 (recurring investment)
CMCSA – $0.25 dividend reinvested at $45.55
February 3rd
UWMC – added 6 shares at $4.40
Noteworthy News
This section of the post will identify some headlines that may be of import to our positions. If they are important enough, we will also call out in the posts if the news calls for actions to readjust our portfolio.
Last week had tons of news to share, and now this week I could not find anything worthy of sharing! Lots of earnings again for our positions but nothing bad or mind blowing!
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
Welcome back to Dividend Dollars! Whew what a week!
This week we saw a lot of volatility in the market. The week started rough as expectations of the FOMC meeting mid-week kept investors on their toes. That meeting confirmed the anticipated rate hikes and fight against inflation, with the first increase expected to come in March. Following this, the market showed a little strength followed by further decline on Thursday. Friday ends higher bringing the indexes to slightly positive for the week.
Moving on from the market, every week I write an update on the dividend portfolio as we build it so that we can track its progress. I will give an overview of what the portfolio is invested in, its value, the dividends received, trades made, and any news or business announcements that may be of interest to our positions.
Portfolio Value
To date, I have invested $5,685 into the account, the total value of all positions plus any cash on hand is $5,963.21. That’s a gain of $278.21 for a total return of 4.89%. The account is up $102.17 for the week which is a 1.74% gain.
We started building this portfolio on 9/27/2021 and have already built into a significant amount of diversity. That diversity has made our portfolio less volatile than the rest of the market, so we did not end the week as high as some of the indexes did.
We added $165 to the account this week. A significant chunk of that money added was put towards adding to positions in Best Buy and Allstate as you will see further down.
Portfolio
Above is a dashboard of the portfolio as tracked through simplysafedividends.com. I use that site for tracking forecasted dividend income, yield, annual income, beta, dividend growth, and more.
Below is a table of everything we are invested in so far. There you can see my number of shares, shares bought through dividend reinvestments, average cost, gains, and more. The tickers in green are positions that I bought shares in this week. Usually, a chunk of my buys throughout the week are buys from my monthly stock picks. You can read about January’s stock picks here. I use a stock screener to find potentially undervalued stocks with safe and growing dividends. All stock picks (for this month and previous months) are highlighted in blue.
This week our activity lowered our annual dividend income by $2. I did some reorganizing and liquidated a position in favor of building others, this lowered out annual income but raised our forecasted income significantly due to better growth. Our dividend yield decreased by 0.12% and our beta went up by 0.01. My portfolio’s dividend yield may be just slightly higher than you will see in other portfolios, however that is strategic per my time horizon. I am in my 20s and am just starting off this investment journey, so a higher dividend yield gives me greater cash flow now to reinvest which help me realize the benefits of compounding sooner. Our beta usually hovers right around the mid 0.6s which I like, especially in times of uneasiness. It means my portfolio won’t dip as much as the rest of the market on red days, however, it does go the other way around and I won’t have as much green on the good days. Therefore, it is good to watch your beta in terms of cyclicity.
Dividends
This week we received dividends from CMCSA for $0.25 and from EOG for $2.30.
Dividends received for January 2022: $18.66
Year-To-Date Dividends: $41.59
This week many of our positions announced next dividends and a couple of them showed increases.
SJM announced their next dividend of $0.99 with no change.
XYLD announced their next variable dividend of $0.4808.
INTC announced a 5% increase to a dividend of $0.365.
CVX announced a 6% increase to a dividend of $1.42.
MMP announced their next dividend of $1.0375 with no change.
CMCSA announced a 8% increase to a dividend of $0.27.
Trades
Here’s the breakdown of the trades I made this week:
January 25th
MFA – sold 26 shares at $4.31.
BBY – added 1 share at $98.11
ALL – added 0.5 shares at $119.32
January 26th
XYLD – added 0.208013 shares at $48.07 (recurring investment)
SCHD – added 0.127944 shares at $78.16 (recurring investment)
CMCSA – $0.25 dividend reinvested at $45.55
January 27th
CMCSA – Added 1 share at $47.06
INTC – added 1 share at $48.11
Noteworthy News
This section of the post will identify some headlines that may be of import to our positions. If they are important enough, we will also call out in the posts if the news calls for actions to readjust our portfolio.
Other than just the general state of the market I have a few updates for us.
Lots of our positions had earnings reports this week. I will give a brief summary of each below:
CMCSA: Peacock has increased their monthly active users to 24.5 million, Comcast projects this to 35 million by 2024. Comcast outperformed expectations. They reported $0.77 earnings per share on $30.336 billion in revenue beating EPS expectations by 4 cents. This earnings is up 37.5% from Q4 of 2020. NBCU revenue jumped 25.6% and the media segment jumped 8.4% despite a $559 million loss related to Peacock. Peacock lost $1.7 billion in 2021. Other segments of business such as theme parks and Universal performed well. Looking ahead, Comcast states they will remain focused on organic growth opportunities and increasing the capacity of their network and broad-band experience by producing more premium content with multiple ways of accessing it and expanding the reach of their technology platforms. They are confident in increasing the dividend for the 14th consecutive year.
MO: Altria’s earning release matched up with expectations. EPS came in at $1.09 which increased 10.1% year over year. Net revenues dipped 0.8% to $6.25 billion due to lacking performance in the wine segment as a result of the timing of the wine business sale. Revenues were up 0.6% after deducting excise tax. Smokeable and Oral products experienced net revenue gains. For the year of 2021, MO bought back 35.7 million shares which is about half way through their buy back plan expecting to end by December of 2022. Expectations for 2022 are looking to be stable.
INTC: Intel posted record 4Q earnings but forecasted 1Q earnings to be short of expectations due to supply chain issues. Shares fell about 3% following the earnings. 1Q EPS is projected to be $0.80 compared to the expected $0.86. Gross margin forecast fell to 52%, still within the previously expected range. Gross margin is under pressure due to the high capital expenditures Intel is pursuing, these expenditures show the company is building operations needed in order to meet better positions themselves to meet strong demand for semiconductors.
MKC: MCK’s 4Q earnings beat most estimates. EPS rose 6% to $0.84. Sales are up 11% for the year. Sales from Cholula and FONA (both new acquisitions in 2020) contributed 4% to this upside. Both consumer and flavor solution segments experienced an increase in sales. The company is expecting 3-5% sales growth for 2022 with the growth being led by new products.
Summary
That is it for the update this week. Let’s kill it next week. Stay patient and stable. Don’t let this market scare you. Be ready to buy income producing assets at a discount!
Let me know what you think of the progress so far, share with me your progress and questions, interact with me on twitter and Instagram using the links below!
