And down the stretch we come… kicking off our final quarter of 2019.  If we haven’t achieved our annual dividend goals already, this is our chance to make one last push for them.  In general, I’m looking good with respect to my goals, so I’m not doing anything extraordinary, just staying the course.

I didn’t set any dividend income records in October, but I did make good progress towards my annual goals.  This month I came close to eclipsing last year’s dividend total, but didn’t quite make it.  It will be next month for sure.

While October is not big for dividend income, it does kick off a strong stretch of expected dividend raises over the next 5 months.  Happily, I had several dividend raise announcements to get this period rolling.  This led to a nice bump in forward dividend income.

Unfortunately, what forward dividend income I gained from raises was nearly wiped out with the loss of dividend income due to a stock sale.  However, this should be a temporary state, as I’ll look to re-deploy the sale proceeds in the coming weeks. recouping some of that lost income.

As usual, there are lots of moving parts in the Portfolio, but we’ll cover them here as we look over my dividend details from October…

 

Dividend Income

In October, I collected a dividend total of $618.50.  This was nearly my lowest total of the year, but considering it was over $600, I can’t complain about that.  My YoY growth was lower than normal as well, but still a healthy 12.95% when compared to the $547.61 from October 2018.

A total of 13 companies paid me a dividend this month.  The number of payers was dinged by a slight shift in payout dates from one company, and a couple of companies that were sold during the last year and thus no longer contributing to my totals.  Nike (NKE) pulled in their payment to the last day of September and thus left me high and dry this October.  Cardinal Health (CAH) and Bank OZK (OZK) were the two companies I sold that no longer provide a payout for me.

Altria (MO) managed to payout $88.47 to me in October, wrangling the top dividend spot this quarter from RPM International (RPM).  Both managed to raise their dividend recently, but MO provided the bigger boost, and that helped MO reach the top spot.  My lowest payer was Main Street Capital (MAIN) with a payment of $25.81.  This means all October dividend payers rang my register with at least $25.  I love it!

The increased dividend amounts from MO, Air Lease (AL) and Comcast (CMCSA) were primarily the 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.

Only one stock saw a reduced payout for me compared to last year, and that was W.P. Carey (WPC).  This was due to a partial sale, as I looked to reduce the dividend weighting of WPC within my Portfolio.

October brought 3 new dividend payers compared to last year, all due to new additions to my Portfolio over the past year.  JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was added for the first time in December of 2018.  Meanwhile, Eastman Chemical (EMN) and Iron Mountain (IRM) were new members of the Portfolio starting in June of 2019.  This was my second payout from each of the two.

There were 3 dividends from last year that are no longer present this year.  The lost NKE payment was due to the shift of the dividend payout compared to last year – no big deal.  The other two missing payouts from CAH and OZK were due to eliminating those stocks from my Portfolio, as noted earlier.  CAH was removed after years of underperformance, while OZK was replaced with what was hopefully a better banking prospect.

I managed to reinvest all dividends in October, resulting in an additional forward dividend income boost of $23.36.  I’m hoping this will be $25 every month beginning very soon.

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 October, my reinvested dividends resulted in the purchase of over 10.7 new shares of stock.

 

Dividend Raises

As expected, October was a strong start to what should be a rewarding next few months when it comes to dividend raises.  I had a combination of some stellar raises, some modest ones, and some that left something to be desired, but they all contributed to increasing my forward dividend income.  Most of the raises were anticipated, but I had a couple of minor surprises in there as well.

After tallying everything up, in October I had 7 companies announce a dividend raise.  This was the 2nd most in a month this year, only surpassed by the 8 I registered in January.

RPM was the first to announce a raise.  I have to say the 2.86% raise was rather disappointing.  I had my sights set on something in the 5%-6% range.

My next raise was from Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI).  While the 1.52% raise was not big, it was the first OHI raise in close to 2 years!  I’m happy to see the dividend come out of the deep freeze.  Here’s hoping they deliver quarterly raises moving forward, which was the standard prior to the freeze.

Usually, I’d have to settle for smaller raises from high-yielding companies, but REIT Crown Castle International (CCI) announced a 6.67% raise.  I’d be thrilled if CCI can keep this up moving forward.

After getting warmed up with these three raises, things really got cooking with the next three…

Visa (V) continued with its strong dividend raise history, announcing a 20% raise.  This was the largest raise of the month for me.

That was followed by a raise from VF Corp. (VFC), which announced an 11.63% raise.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if VFC’s raise was a bit muted this year given the Kontoor Brands (KTB) spinoff, but it didn’t seem to affect their normal dividend growth.

Completing the impressive raises for this group of three was Starbucks (SBUX), which finally came through with their dividend raise, a boost of 13.89%.  This is a slowdown from the torrid growth rates SBUX has delivered over nearly the past decade, but it’s still a generous amount.  Given the size of my SBUX position and their current yield, this raise resulted in my largest dollar amount increase for the month – a tad over $21 in additional forward dividend income!

Lastly, Iron Mountain (IRM) announced a small raise of 1.23% on Halloween.  This didn’t increase my forward dividend income much, but it does help keep that current yield elevated.

 

These dividend raises contributed $84.77 to my additional forward dividend income.  This was my 3rd best total for the year, trailing only the triple-digit totals from Jan. & Feb.

I’d have to invest $3,247.89 at my Portfolio’s current average yield of 2.61% in order to equal the same boost to my annual forward dividend income that these dividend raises provided.  How nice is that!  Ahhh, the power of the dividend raise.

Looking forward, I expect another handful of raise announcements next month.  In November, I’m expecting to hear at least 5 dividend raise announcements for stocks within my Portfolio.  I’m expecting to hear annual increases from Abbvie (ABBV) [which actually already announced], as well as from Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Hormel Foods (HRL), NKE & AL.  Keep’em coming!

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

I might have to change the heading here as I actually didn’t generate any new dividend income due to new investment.  Instead, I had a single stock sale, which resulted in a negative net investment and a reduction in forward dividend income.  Talk about a downer!

On the bright side, I’ve got some extra capital to invest now, and I’ll be searching for an investment opportunity to hopefully restore my forward dividend income in short order.

The sale was one of my regional bank stocks, Zions Bancorp. (ZION).  I wrote about the sale just the other day.  You can find all the details in this recent post: Recent Sell – ZION.

My forward dividend income decreased by $82.27 as a result of the sale.

 

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 at the start of the year, 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.

 

My first negative number for 2019 in the ‘Investment of Capital’ category certainly put a dent in my additional forward dividend income totals for October.  However, the strong monthly total from ‘Dividend Raises’ offset this loss, and the amount from ‘Reinvested Dividends’ helped ensure a decently positive month.  Dividend Raises now has a healthy lead over Investment of Capital and with another strong dividend raise month on tap for November, it might be hard for Investment of Capital to make up the ground.

I’m hoping that reaching a $1,600 total by year’s end for additional forward dividend income might still be a possibility, but I’ll need to make sure I reinvest those recent sale proceeds before year’s end in order to make that happen.

Through October, my average monthly amount of additional forward dividend income being generated in 2019 rested at ~$121/mo.  This was an ~$11/mo. drop from last month.

 

Progress Charts

The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.  I continue to achieve higher YoY numbers… just like I drew it up!

 

 

On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.

Through October, I fell about $300 shy of surpassing last year’s dividend total.  I will have no trouble passing that total next month.  I’m still projecting that I’ll surpass $10K in actual dividends for 2019 despite my recent sale.

 

Summary

October was good for dividend income, keeping me on pace for my goals.  I was able to tally over $618 this month, with YoY growth of almost 13%.

I had a splendid 7 dividend raises announced for stocks within my Portfolio, bringing in nearly $85 in additional forward dividend income.

There was minimal Portfolio activity in October, with a lone stock sale being the only transaction.  However, the cash stockpile is growing and should allow me to purchase something when I feel the time is right.

The total for my Portfolio’s forward dividend income made only minimal strides ahead due to my stock sale, but it was still a net move forward.  My forward dividend income now stands at $10,488.28, bringing my average to a smidgen over $874/mo.

Things are going well, so I don’t have any big plans to shake things up any time soon.  I’ll just keep identifying good companies to buy and keep reinvesting my dividends.  Collecting $10K in annual dividends is right around the corner, so that’s definitely something to look forward to during these remaining couple of months in 2019.  Until next time…

 

Have you already surpassed last year’s dividend income?  Are you planning any last minute moves to help you achieve your 2019 goals.  Please share in the Comments!

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