My Portfolio hit some choppy waters out in the market in May when it came to value, but of course it continued to deliver dividends as if it was drifting in a slight breeze on an inland bay.

Say what?  What’s he babbling about?  Well, you know what I mean.

I mean that my Portfolio dividends continued to come in as steadily as ever, despite all that market volatility in May.  What a great feeling to know that I can depend on that dividend income each month.  I can project what it’s supposed to be, and invariably it arrives as expected.

May turned out to be a solid month with respect to dividend income – we’ll get to that shortly.  Once again, I also saw very solid YoY income growth.  No records to report, but great progress… and I’ve got $10K in forward dividend income on the horizon.

So, let’s get to it… bring on the May dividend income report.

 

Dividend Income

May delivered a welcomed dividend total of $716.49.  This dividend total was a result of a 21.40% YoY increase compared to the $590.19 from May 2018.  I’ll take it… just skip right over the $600s.  If I could sustain 20% growth, oh what a Portfolio I’d have.

A total of 16 companies paid me a dividend this month.  The largest amount came from Abbvie (ABBV), cracking the century mark with good margin at $117.48.  Procter & Gamble (PG) should be making a run at $100 for me soon, too.  Maybe next year… reinvested dividends and a dividend raise for PG should hopefully get me there.  The smallest dividend amount came from D.R. Horton (DHI) at $15.12.  Contributing to this stock “bringing up the rear” is the fact that DHI is one of my smaller positions, and it has a below market yield.

The increased dividend amounts from ABBV and Texas Instruments (TXN) were helped by 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 muted increases from CVS Health (CVS) and Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) were strictly from reinvested dividends, as neither has raised their dividend in the past year.

I did have a pair of decreased dividend amounts, too, from Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) and Hormel Foods (HRL).  Both decreases were the result of partial sales over the past year.  In the case of OHI, I pared down my position quite a bit to ensure its dividend weighting in my Portfolio was at a more comfortable level.  As for HRL, my partial sale was a trim due to its extended valuation at the time.

May had three new dividend payers arrive compared to last year.  Those payouts came from Lowe’s Companies (LOW), General Dynamics (GD), and DHI.  LOW and GD are candidates for further purchase for me, as I’d like to expand their positions within my Portfolio.

Happily, I didn’t have any dividend stocks depart my payers list this month.

May showed an additional forward dividend income boost of $24.15 thanks to reinvesting my dividends this month.  Another month with least $20/mo. in additional forward dividend income is pleasing to say the least.  I’d like to boost that amount to over $25/mo. on a regular basis.

Starting this year, I introduced another column in the dividend income table to show the actual number of “New Shares” that were purchased with the reinvested dividends.  In May, my reinvested dividends resulted in the purchase of nearly 10 new shares of stock (9.956 shares to be exact).  So far this year, I’ve added almost 56 shares of stock due to reinvesting dividends.

 

Dividend Raises

May dividend raise announcements were slim, but the future forward income these delivered amounted to a decent total thanks to a significant raise sneaking in on the last day of the month.

I had 3 companies announce a dividend raise in May… one big raise, one medium and one small.

Main Street Capital (MAIN) was the first to announce a raise in May.  It was a 2.5% raise for the monthly dividend payer.  I considered this the medium raise.  Why?  Well, MAIN is in the process of eliminating what has been bi-annual special dividend payments and is slowly transitioning them into their regular dividend payments.  I expect more of these raises from MAIN in the quarters to come.  Multiple raises of a similar amount during the year will result in a nice annual raise percentage.

Cardinal Health (CAH) continues to disappoint with both share price performance and dividend growth.  While I’m glad the company continues to raise their dividend on an annual basis, 1% dividend growth comes in well below preferred levels.  CAH will remain on my short list for possible purge, despite already being one of my smaller positions after a trim last year.

LOW is one of my companies I expect hefty dividend growth from, and the company certainly delivered.  LOW announced a 14.58% dividend raise on the last day of the month, allowing me to salvage what was shaping up to be a fairly lackluster month for dividend raises.

 

These raises contributed $33.02 to my additional forward dividend income.  This is a good total, but a bit below the $50/mo. I’ve been targeting recently.

I’d have to invest $1,158.60 at my Portfolio’s current average yield of 2.85% in order to equal the same boost to my annual forward dividend income that these dividend raises provided.  May’s market decline resulted in my Portfolio’s average yield rising from 2.62% to 2.85%.

Looking ahead to dividend raises in June, I’m expecting to see annual increases from Target (TGT) and Starbucks (SBUX), while seeing smaller quarterly bumps from W.P. Carey (WPC) and Realty Income (O).  Keep those raises coming!

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

After an April which saw me finally make my first purchase of 2019, I was back to my inactive ways in May.

Unfortunately, this means a $0 increase to my additional forward dividend income.

As of this moment, I’m planning to rectify this situation in June with some Portfolio activity.

 

Tallying Up The Additional Forward Dividend Income

This year I continue with tracking the additional forward dividend income generated each month from the trifecta of sources: reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and new capital investment.

I’m also showing 2018’s totals so that that we can compare as the year goes along.

As noted in previous 2019 reports, I anticipate that my Reinvested Dividends total will move higher in 2019, but that I’ll see a reduction in the total from the Dividend Raises and the Investment of Capital.

 

I was able to add more additional forward dividend income this May compared to last, however, year-to-date I’m well behind last year’s scorching pace.  I think last year’s totals may be hard to eclipse for a couple (or more) years.

I’m averaging a bit under $110/mo. of additional forward dividend income in 2019.

Note – I adjusted my February reinvested dividend total (up by $0.05) after tracking down an error.  The red tick in the upper right corner of that cell indicates this adjustment.  Every nickel counts!

 

Progress Charts

The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.

I couldn’t be happier with reflecting yet another month of YoY dividend gains… the streak is alive and well.

 

 

On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.  Over $3.8K for 2019 already!

 

Summary

I realized more tremendous dividend totals in May with over $716 in income, powered by over 21% YoY growth.

I counted less than a handful of dividend raises, but the forward dividend income from them is always welcomed.

I continue to reinvest all dividends, and thus continue to see the additional forward dividend income from these move higher.

No stock purchases were recorded in May to help boost my dividend totals, but I hope to see this change in June.

I progress towards $10K in forward dividend income.  My current total stands at $9,815.26.  Maybe I cross it in June if I can manage a purchase.

Looking ahead, June is shaping up to be a record month if all holds to form.  Exciting times are on the horizon.  See you right here, next month.

 

Did the market action in May rock your Portfolio?  Did you have any stocks buck the trend and post gains despite it all?  Have you been able to initiate any new portfolio positions in stocks that you had been watching for a while?  Please tell me all about it in the Comments!

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