Spring has sprung! With the new season comes new growth, not only for the flowers in the garden, but for the dividends in my Portfolio. In March, the markets continued their expected ups and downs, but the dividends in my Portfolio grew as steadily as ever. In fact, they grew to new heights… very exciting to see.
Just like the first two months of the year, my dividend Portfolio got a forward dividend income boost from reinvested dividends, some dividend raises, and the infusion of some new cash. This just plants the seeds for even more future growth. So, let’s not waste any more time and see what transpired in March.
Dividend Income
March’s dividend income total came in at $935.53… a new record for my Portfolio! Compared to Mar. 2017, this was a solid 17.4% increase. I’m also getting oh so close to reaching a 4-digit monthly dividend total…. can’t wait for that…. maybe this June.
A total of 18 companies paid me a dividend this month. The largest amount came from Qualcomm (QCOM), with $107.95. The smallest amount came from Visa (V), with $17.04.
The dividend amounts from Qualcomm (QCOM), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Target (TGT), and Realty Income (O) mainly increased thanks to additional purchases over the past year.
Increased amounts for the other companies were a result of dividend increases and reinvested dividends over the past year.
The decreased dividends from T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) and VF Corp (VFC) were the result of partial sales over the past year.
Only one new dividend payer arrived in March, and that was HanesBrands (HBI), a company I bought for the first time in Q4 of last year.
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) moved their 1st dividend payment of 2018 from February to March this year, so that’s why it shows $0 from March 2017.
At the bottom of the table, you’ll see 3 companies that paid me a dividend this time last year, but which I no longer own. Linear Technology (LLTC) was bought by Analog Devices (ADI), and I sold rather than wait for the deal to close. Praxair (PX) was replaced by Air Products & Chemicals (APD) in my Portfolio, and L Brands (LB) was simply sold to put the funds in a better alternative. All 3 of these stocks will disappear from my table when the June dividend income report rolls around.
In the “Add’l Fwd Inc” column, I show the amount of additional annual forward dividend income that resulted from reinvesting each of this month’s paid dividends. March saw an addition of $28.60 from this category. This was the most in a single month that I’ve recorded thus far. The reinvestment of the QCOM dividend resulted in over a $4 bump in forward dividend income all by itself.
Dividend Raises
The start to 2018 with respect to dividend raises has been superb. I set a record in January by increasing my forward dividend income by over $100 due to dividend raises, only to blow out that number and cross $200 in February. March wasn’t as strong, but it was still good, as I wasn’t expecting to keep up the pace that was established over the first two months of the year.
March brought some nice dividend raises though, including one unexpected one. In total, I had 4 companies raise their dividend.
The unexpected raise came from Gentex (GNTX). They announced a 10% raise just a couple of months before the expected one in May. I assume this will replace the May raise, but maybe they’ll surprise me.
Qualcomm (QCOM) delivered a nice 8.77% raise. Coupled with my large $ position in QCOM, this raise led to the majority my increase in forward dividend income for March.
The smallest raises came from a couple of companies that offer dividend raises more frequently than on an annual basis. Realty Income (O) offered a raise of 0.23%. This was on the heels of a larger 3.06% raise earlier this year. Meanwhile, W.P. Carey (WPC) offered up a 0.5% raise. WPC has been raising its dividend on a quarterly basis for several years now. The 1/2 cent raise has been normal the past several quarters, leading to a dividend growth rate of about 2%. I’m hoping WPC can pick up this growth rate once the REIT sector starts performing a little better.
These raises contributed a total of $54.63 to my annual forward dividend income. While I didn’t reach $100, this is still a healthy amount. In fact, if I could average this amount for each month for the remainder of the year, I’d have no trouble surpassing my forward dividend income goal for 2018 with just this and my monthly reinvested dividends (no more capital investment required!).
I’d have to invest $1,986.55 at my portfolio’s average yield of 2.75% in order to equal the same boost to my annual forward dividend income that these dividend raises provide. Looking at the dividend raises this way truly shows the impact they can have on your dividend income.
Dividends Due To New Investment
I had more two purchases in March…. continuing my active new capital investment thus far in 2018.
Mid-month, I initiated a position in Comcast (CMCSA) when a put option of mine was assigned. You can read more about this is my Monthly Options Income (Mar. 2018) post.
I then followed that up by adding to my existing position in Cardinal Health (CAH) just a few days ago. Check out the Recent Buy – CAH post for more details on that purchase.
These purchases resulted in the following additional forward dividend income: CMCSA – $76.00 and CAH – $18.50, for a total of $94.50 in March.
Summary
Every month in 2018 has revealed another record when it comes to my dividend Portfolio. The first two months of the year brought record forward dividend income due to dividend raises. This month it was a record amount of dividend income for any month. I cracked the $900 mark, and now can’t be more motivated to keep it going. I suspect I’m not that far off from my first 4-digit month! As for dividend growth, the 17.4% YoY growth that I realized is right where I hope to be.
In addition, the forward dividend income total was again boosted by reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and investment of new capital. I’ll be tracking this group of income boosters each month this year, in the table below.
This month, ‘investment of new capital’ led to the largest increase in my forward dividend income, however ‘dividend raises’ still leads for the year. I also realized my largest boost to forward dividend income from ‘reinvested dividends’, at $28.60 for the month.
The March results keep me on pace to reach my goal of $8,700 in annual forward dividend income by year’s end. At this point, I only need to average a little less than $60 per month in new forward dividend income in order to reach my goal.
The first quarter of 2018 came to an end with my Portfolio bringing in nearly $2,000 in dividend income ($1,993.40 to be exact). Assuming I keep the Portfolio intact, $8,000 of dividend income for the year should be achieved. Last year saw the Portfolio deliver a little over $6,700. With such a good start in Q1, I look forward to Q2.
Any records for you in March? End of quarter months are usually bountiful for dividends. With one quarter down in 2018, are you on pace to reach your goals? Please share in the comments!
I have updated the Portfolio & Dividends pages in conjunction with this monthly update.
Hi ED. Excellent month! That 17% gain is terrific. I know if would be challenging to keep it that high, but at that rate, your dividends would double in a bit more than four years.
I also appreciate this analysis: “I’d have to invest $1,986.55 at my portfolio’s average yield of 2.75% in order to equal the same boost to my annual forward dividend income.” When I have more time, I will calculate this stat for my portfolio. Your approach and analysis really demonstrates the wealth potential of dividend growth investing.
O presents an interesting opportunity. I think the current price is low, and the current 5.09% yield is bangin’. I’m not sure how quickly that company can grow, because of its size and business model, but it’s an extremely solid long term dividend payer. I am hoping the REIT stocks stay low until the summer. I spent my capital earlier this year taking advantage of the lower utility prices.
Looking forward to seeing how your portfolio performs in April!
I agree… an excellent month, DF. I’m really happy about the dividend total and YoY gain. I’d love to keep up the pace of YoY growth, but as you know, it gets harder to do as the numbers get bigger.
I enjoy all the portfolio stats, so please do share when you get time to calculate them. It’s always exciting to see the performance of other portfolios.
As for O, I’m looking for ~4% growth. With the 5% yield we are hopefully looking at 9% total return. This certainly isn’t going to be the high flyer of the Portfolio, but it does offer a nice complement to the other Portfolio stocks which are higher growth, lower yield.
Let’s bring on April!
ED,
Where do I even start? These results are amazing. Congratulations on just crushing it and setting a new persona record. Man I cannot wait to see you cross $1,000 and June and I hope I am the first freaking person on this website to congratulate you for it. Between your dividend increases (yes, including the baby one from O), and the purchase of CAH, you are setting the table for even more success in the coming months. Man am I excited for you!
Bert
Hey, Bert! You’ve got me pumped up! Heck, I can wait for June myself now… let’s hope all goes according to plan and $1K becomes reality.
My forward dividend income has certainly grown quickly the first 3 months this year. The steady growth from the reinvested dividends, those awesome dividend raises we’ve seen in 2018, and of course the injection of new capital all have made for a strong Q1.
Can’t wait to see what your portfolio delivered in March. I’ll be looking for the post. Thanks for all the motivating comments!
Awesome job! 4digits in no time!
That’s the plan, Dan. Let’s hope it comes to fruition! Thanks for stopping by.
Just shy of 1k, I can only imagine your excitement next month. I’m definitely rooting for you to cross that magical threshold of $1000!
Thanks, Mr. Robot. I’m looking forward to crossing that $1K monthly level alright. June is my target, as I won’t come close these next two months.
Congrats on a recording breaking month! Glad to see we are both heading towards the 1K per month milestone! Keep up the great work! 😀
Once I reach $1K, I suspect it will only be for the quarter-ending months for a long while, but I’ve got to start somewhere. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, MDD! And good luck in your pursuit of the $1K monthly mark as well.
Impressive year over year and definitely a nice collection of stocks. You were right we do have a lot of holdings in common. You have a few additional I’ve been watching for a while.
Thanks, DS. We must be on the same wavelength when it comes to stock selection. Which ones have you been watching for a while?
I often get ideas from the other portfolios I look at. The community usually unearths a few stocks I haven’t noticed, or brings to the forefront a few that were perhaps forgotten in my mind.
I lost some money in Q1 2018, but that’s after a big gain in 2017 so I’m still happy. That being said I think this is just a correction and not the start of a bear market, so no need to panic.
Awesome job ED. 17% and you’re so dang close to 1k for march. Do you think you’ll hit it in June?
Thank you, TITM. It was definitely a good month. I do think I can reach $1K in June, but it’s not a given, that’s for sure.
Congrats on hitting a new record for dividend income. Always a good feeling seeing those milestones being broken. QCOM was the heavy lifter which always gets me thinking about my own dividend income. For now it’s OK to have certain companies generate most of the dividend income but once I start using the dividends I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be with a handful of companies generating the bulk of my dividend income. Great job for the month. Always happy to see a handful of names in common too.
Hey, DivHut. With QCOM falling in price recently, the reinvestment of their dividend this month resulted in almost 1.88 new shares. That should result in more heavy lifting from QCOM next quarter, too.
I’d probably prefer roughly equal dividend payments from my dividend payers once using the income, too.
Thanks for checking in and commenting! I see you just posted your dividend income update for March… I’m off to check it out.
Congrats on the record what a tremendous month. Just think next year you should cross the $1,000 mark. Keep up the good work, all the best to you in April and beyond.
Thanks, Matt! Yes, $1K will be fantastic. I’ve got a shot at reaching that level for a single month sometime this year… hopefully June. Next March certainly looks like a $1K+ month, assuming no significant changes to my Portfolio.