Monthly Dividend Income (Aug. 2018)

It’s always nice to ring in the start of a new month by tallying up the dividends from previous one.

Happily, my Portfolio continues to power forward.  The dividend totals continue to climb, as solid year-over-year (YoY) gains are being made.

In August, I was even able to achieve one of the goals I set for the year… more on that later.

Let’s examine what transpired in August with regard to dividends…

 

Dividend Income

August’s dividend income came in at $640.07.  This is the first time I’ve reached $600 in a non-quarter-ending month.

This represents an outstanding 35.42% YoY increase compared to the $472.65 from August 2017.

My streak of $500+ months has been extended to nine!  Unlike last month, whether or not the streak would continue was never in doubt.  Moving the streak up to the $600/mo. level will take some additional investing/time.

A total of 15 companies paid me a dividend this month.  The largest amount came from longtime holding Procter & Gamble (PG), ringing the register with $87.96.  The lowest amount came from one of this year’s additions, Texas Instruments (TXN), at $15.59.

The dividend amounts from Hormel (HRL), Starbucks (SBUX) and Realty Income (O) mainly increased as a result of 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.  You can see the huge impact (in percentage terms) of the two dividend raises provided by Abbvie (ABBV) over the past year.

The small increased dividend amount from CVS Health (CVS) is a result of no dividend raise last year, as the company froze the dividend in order to help de-leverage the balance sheet more quickly once the pending Aetna merger becomes finalized.  The dividend increase that did materialize is due entirely to reinvested dividends.

The dividend income drop from Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) was primarily a result of a partial sale a few months ago.

Three new dividend payers arrived this August compared to last: Nexstar Media Group (NXST), Lowe’s Companies (LOW) and Texas Instruments (TXN).  NXST and LOW have performed really well since adding them to the Portfolio.  TXN is still hovering around the price I bought it.  In any case, they are all delivering dividends that boost my August total.

Thankfully, August did not see any dividend sources leave my Portfolio.  Selling is always difficult, but when you factor in the lost dividend income, too, it’s especially difficult.

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.  August saw an addition of $16.35 from this category.  This total suffered a bit as I recently stopped re-investing the OHI dividend (in order to start de-emphasizing its dividend contribution percentage to my Portfolio).

 

Dividend Raises

August delivered some welcomed dividend raises, including one monster one.

By month’s end, I had 3 Portfolio companies raise their dividend, and the percentage increases ran the gamut.

Main Street Capital (MAIN) kicked things off on the first of the month with a 2.63% raise.  This is a raise to their standard monthly dividend.  MAIN has also been paying bi-annual special dividends since 2013.

Illinois Tool Works (ITW) then announced a huge dividend raise just a couple of days later.  ITW topped last year’s 20% raise with a 28.21% raise this year.  Wow… talk about some dividend growth!

Lastly, I had Altria (MO) declare their 2nd raise of 2018.  This August one was 14.29%, and it followed a 6.06% raise back in March.  I didn’t own MO back in March, but I’m happy I was able to share in the most recent (and larger) raise.

These raises contributed $69.14 to my annual forward dividend income.  This is a solid total from 3 raises.

I’d have to invest $2,649.04 at my portfolio’s average yield of 2.61% in order to equal the same boost to my annual forward dividend income that these dividend raises provided.

Next month is expected to be a light one with regard to dividend raises, as I only have W.P. Carey (WPC) and Realty Income (O) expected to hike their dividend.  Any raise will most likely be on the smaller side, too, since these companies raise their dividends multiple times per year.  Maybe I can get a surprise dividend raise in September to add to these two… always terrific when that happens.

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

I was able to make a couple of purchases this month.  Both were additions to existing Portfolio holdings.

Things have been quiet over the past quarter, to the point where I actually had a slight reduction in my forward dividend income due to new capital investment, thanks to Portfolio sales that resulted in more lost dividend income than I gained via purchases.  Thankfully, the two August purchases helped get the forward dividend income due to new investment pointed in a positive direction again.

The first purchase was Blackrock (BLK), and this came in the middle of the month.  You can read more about this is my Recent Buy – BLK post.

Just 1 week later, I added to Illinois Tool Works (ITW), a popular add these days in the DGI community.  My Recent Buy – ITW post has my thoughts regarding this transaction.

The result of these two purchases was a sizeable forward dividend income increase.  The BLK purchase brought an increase of $50.08, and the purchase of ITW brought an increase of $40.00, for a total of $90.08 for August.

 

Summary

The dividends continue to roll in during these early months of the 2nd half of 2018.

I collected dividends from 15 companies, totaling over $640.  The YoY dividend growth was stellar at over 35%.  Not to mention, I stayed above the $500 mark for dividend income for a 9th consecutive month.  It all looks good!

My forward dividend income totals are boosted by the combination of reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and investment of new capital.  I continue to track this trio of income boosters each month this year, in the table below.

‘Dividend Raises’ continue to be a major contributor to my increasing forward dividend income.  August saw 3 dividend raises, adding almost $70 to my forward dividend income for August, and putting me at nearly $700 for 2018 thus far.  I may have an outside shot at having dividend raises increase my forward dividend income by $1,000 for 2018.  Incredible.  I don’t suspect September or December will provide much help with significant dividend raises, so I’ll have to rely on October and November to bring it home.

Thanks to my two purchases in August, additional forward dividend income from ‘Investment of Capital’ contributed the biggest boost to my forward dividend income this month.

In total, August’s results of over $175 in additional forward dividend income have rocketed me past my goal of $8,700 by the end of 2018.  At the end of August, the annual forward dividend income total reached over $8,736.  I’m curious to see how far I can push the total by year’s end.

Steady progress continues to be made… now it’s on to September!

 

Did August deliver some hefty dividends within your portfolio?  Have you passed your dividend income total from 2017 yet?  If not, are you getting close?  I look forward to reading your comments!

I have updated the Portfolio & Dividends pages in conjunction with this monthly update.

Posted on by Engineering Dividends

28 thoughts on “Monthly Dividend Income (Aug. 2018)”

  1. Dang ED, you are crushing it! That’s awesome that you’ve kept the streak alive and have now pushed into the $600/month territory. That is some great YoY growth as well, and I love seeing how those reinvested dividends and dividend raises are boosting the forward income!

    Love it, love it, love it!

    1. Thanks, DivvyDad. It feels like I’m firing on all cylinders these days, but I expect the growth to slow as I scale back my capital investments, and those dividend raises we’ve had in 2018 come back to earth.
      Hopefully, the portfolio is large enough now that the dividend raises and reinvested dividends can do the majority of the work.

    1. Thanks, MDD. Achieving $600 in a non-quarter-ending month was terrific. I’ll continue to try to push the dividend numbers higher.
      Congrats on an outstanding month of August for you as well.

  3. Yes you are crushing it. 9 months of over $500.00 that’s a very awesome streak. Another month you had of good dividend increases. Keep it up.

    1. Hey Doug. Yes, the streak is alive. I would think I should be safely over $500/mo. from here on out, unless there’s an unexpected dividend cut, or I sell or reduce a position without reinvesting the proceeds elsewhere.
      Those dividend raises this year continue to amaze. I’m thinking the $1K I mentioned with regard to additional forward dividend income from raises in 2018 may be a stretch, but maybe I’ll be surprised. If nothing else, it will be something fun to chase for the remaining months of 2018.

  4. Congrats on a solid month ED. Looks like you’re on a winning streak, and the double-digit YoY growth is impressive, especially since you’re dealing with larger numbers.

    1. Thanks DP! I am on a nice streak, with some great growth numbers, too. I’ll have to enjoy the growth while it lasts, as the law of large numbers will probably soon pay me a visit, and my growth rate will wane.

  5. Hi ED,
    Great month and congrats on one of your annual goals achieved already! With the recent purchase of ITW, there are no doubts that you will be crossing the $500 mark every month. I guess it won’t take long for us to witness all the months being above $600 🙂
    Regarding my month, I love second month of the quarter, it’s my biggest one at the moment. I already surpassed my dividend income for 2017 so that’s also good news. The amounts are very tiny compared to yours but it still makes me feel good to receive them 🙂 I will be reporting my results in a couple of days.
    BI

    1. Always good to hear from you, BI.
      Awesome, right? Achieving one of the goals, especially so early in the year. With one down, I can focus on the other two.
      I’m hoping I can start a $600/mo. streak sometime next year… we’ll see.
      You’ve already achieved something I haven’t in exceeding last year’s dividend income already. That’s terrific news, regardless of the size of the numbers. It’s also indicative of the outstanding progress you’ve made this year. I suspect I might achieve the same thing sometime in October if everything goes according to plan.
      I look forward to checking out your monthly report. Take care.

  6. Wow, just wow! Love your portfolio and the payouts you receive! That PG dividend is insane. We share quite a few names like O, HRL, SBUX, OHI (for now, as I look to sell). And I’m looking to add more names of your portfolio like BLK, ITW for example. That MO increase was insane right? Such great news, and the ITW one wasn’t too shabby either for the lucky people holding the stock. Congratulations on a great month and keep it up!

    DI

    1. Hi DI. Yeah, PG moved to the top spot as a result of my partial sale of OHI a few months ago. With OHI’s large yield and me reinvesting it’s dividend, the weight of the dividend it was providing was growing larger each quarter, more than I wanted it to compared to my other holdings. The partial sale of OHI, as well as me not reinvesting their dividend currently, brings it back in line.
      The MO raise was great, as was the ITW one. That’s the kind of dividend growth I like!
      Thanks for stopping by and getting me motivated to “keep doing what I’m doing” with your energetic comment!

    1. Hey, Lanny. Yeah, I’ve been piling up the forward dividend income this year. If it stopped today, I’d consider it a good year. However, I’ve got 4 more months to take it to another level. Watch me go!

  8. Awesome report as always, Engineering Dividends! Nice job with the increase of 35.42% and the consecutive streak of 9 months with more than $500. It’s so true what you said about selling positions when it lowers the dividend income. It makes it that much more difficult. Great job on the 3 raises. I had 2 companies raise dividends income August. I wouldn’t say I earned hefty dividends in August as it’s one of my smaller months. But I did post a nice rate of YOY growth. I have surpassed my dividend income by a lot. It will be more challenging as the size of my portfolio increases. Thanks for sharing!

    1. Thank you, Graham. I’m glad the monthly reports resonate with you. I’ll keep churning them out if you keep reading them! 🙂
      As you know, early on in DGI your contributions will get the snowball rolling the fastest, so fund the contributions as best you can.
      Soon enough, those dividend raises (while maybe small today) will have a significant impact on your progress.
      Keep doing your thing and let time work its magic.

    1. Hey Dozer! The raises in August were terrific, as they have been all year. ITW and MO really impressed. The raises are certainly having a significant impact on my progress with increasing my annual forward dividend income.

  10. Aaaaand the streak continues! Good stuff ED, amazing to see your progress. Even with a larger portfolio you are still jamming!

    For me August was also a record breaker!

    1. Thanks, Mr. Robot. I’ve been very happy with my YoY dividend growth considering the size of my Portfolio.
      Glad to hear you are setting records in August… I’ll be stopping by to check out the details very soon.

  11. Wow – that second dividend increase by MO and that insane ITW increase show why I freaking love dividend investing. These results ED….holy cow. I love it.

    Bert

  13. Those are some great raises on a vary large portfolio. I’m an infant comparatively, but even I had a great August. The current month looks dismal in comparison mostly because I sold a few poor performing ones in the medicine and defense business. Yet, cheers for a solid year for both us, mate.

    1. Welcome, Jared. Nice to hear that August was good to you, even though September has been tougher. Unfortunately, not all our stocks can be winners. However, it sounds like you are willing to weed out the poor performers, which can help in the long run.

      1. Oh yes, totally agree. Here’s to a hopeful October and rest of the year.

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