Nothing like a quarter-ending month to jack up your dividend totals and get you pumped!

I reached a 4-digit dividend total in a quarter-ending month for the 9th time in a row, and it never gets old.  No looking back now… not at this point.

My Portfolio results felt a little more normal this month after I avoided recording a negative forward dividend income for June.  I actually saw a dividend raise, too!

While I didn’t experience any dividend cuts/suspensions in June, I think one is on the horizon, so more on that later.

Markets powered higher despite no reduction in uncertainty, no earnings guidance from a healthy portion of companies, and new surges in the number of people infected by the coronavirus.  Defying the odds, I’d say.

Not much we can put stock in these days…. except our dividends (for the most part).  Let’s check out those dividend totals for June…

 

Dividend Income

 

I’m happy to report I collected $1,303.99 in dividend income in June.  While this wasn’t enough to set a record monthly amount, it was the 2nd time I’ve crossed the $1,300 level.  That’s something to celebrate, no doubt.  YoY growth was a pleasing 15.07%, when comparing this June’s dividend total to the $1,133.21 from June 2019.  The 15% mark is a level I like to exceed on a monthly basis.

A total of 20 companies paid me a dividend in June, with 5 of them reaching the three-digit level.  Qualcomm (QCOM) led my list of dividend payers this month, delivering a stellar $133.78.

Others payers crossing the $100 dividend level for me in June were Exxon Mobil (XOM) – $114.83, Pepsico (PEP) – $109.54, T. Rowe Price (TROW) – $103.79 and Broadcom (AVGO) – $102.12.

Coming up a little short of $100 was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which paid me $93.18.  However, this JNJ payment was noteworthy in that the amount paid made it such that I’ve now received more in JNJ dividends than I initially invested – another 100% payback!  Recall, I had Procter & Gamble (PG) attain this goal last month.

I’ve invested $3,058.72 in JNJ over the years, and have now received and reinvested $3.072.83 in dividends – for a cost basis of $6,131.55.

While is appears that Microsoft (MSFT) was my smallest dividend payer in June, providing $5.10, I’d like to think it was Kontoor Brands (KTB) instead, even though KTB technically didn’t pay anything.  You see they were supposed to have a dividend payment in June, but after the dividend was suspended in May, nothing came my way.

The increased dividend amounts from XOM and 3M Co. (MMM) 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.

I had four dividend payout reductions this month… nothing to be alarmed about though.  The reductions in my Gilead Sciences (GILD) and Realty Income (O) payouts were due to trimming my positions over the past year.  The reduction from Main Street Capital (MAIN) was due to the company not making its semi-annual special dividend payment.  The company announced they wouldn’t be making the payment in response to the financial uncertainty brought about my the pandemic.  Lastly, I have the reduction from VF Corp (VFC), which was due to last year’s spinoff of KTB.  This will fall off the calendar next quarter.

There were several new dividend payers compared to last year.  The group was led by AVGO, which as mentioned earlier delivered over $100.  Another name from the group was Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC).  Almost $59 from WFC is a tidy sum, but it seems I should prepare myself for less in Q3 after the company announced it expects to reduce its quarterly payout in response to the Fed stress tests.  The exact amount should be known when Q2 results arrive in mid-July.

The other new dividend payers were TCF Financial (TCF), UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and MSFT.  UNH are MSFT are positions l’d like to grow.  UNH looks more attractive at the current levels.

A couple of stocks no longer paid me a dividend in June, as they were sold earlier in the year.  Target (TGT) was sold due to an assigned call option.  Meanwhile, I kept paring down my position in REIT Crown Castle International (CCI) during the start of the pandemic.  Eventually, it got small enough that I just sold he remainder.  I was using the proceeds to invest in other positions.

As usual, I reinvested all dividends into the stocks that paid them, resulting in an additional forward dividend income boost of $47.40.  This was only my 2nd time eclipsing the $40 mark.

As a result of the reinvested dividends, I purchased exactly 16.1 new shares of stock in June.  This includes over 2 shares for three different stocks, and over 1 share for a couple of others.

 

Dividend Raises

After being shutout of a dividend raise last month for the 1st time I can remember, I’m thrilled to report that I’m back to recording dividend raises again.

That’s not to say it was all rosy, as a couple of companies chose to stand pat in the midst of the pandemic and forego a dividend raise.  However, a freeze is better than a cut/suspension.

Things started off really well for June when UNH announced a 15.74% raise.  A raise like this makes me wish I had a larger position!  As it turns out, this was the smallest raise for UNH in the last 11 years (during which each raise was at least 20%).  That’s some strong dividend growth.

O and W.P. Carey (WPC) came through with their customary small quarterly raises, 0.21% and 0.19%, respectively.  These raises only produced some fractional dollar increases to my forward dividend income, but I’ll take it.

As for the dividend freezes, those came from Caterpillar (CAT) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).  While I would have liked to have heard of a raise, I can understand the reluctance to extend themselves financially in the current environment.  In the case of JPM, Federal Reserve concerns are most likely contributing to the company choosing to forego a raise.

 

 

After accounting for everything, the dividend raises increased my forward dividend income by $9.11.  Back to positive numbers in June… that’s the way I like it.

I’d have to invest $316.32 at my Portfolio’s current average yield of 2.88% in order to equal the boost to my forward dividend income that came from these dividend raises.

Looking forward to July, it’s possible I go back to a decline in my forward dividend income due to raises (or lack thereof).  While I’m hopeful to hear of a raise from Union Pacific (UNP), this may be more than offset by a dividend cut from WFC.  I’ll just have to let it play out.

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

As a result of zero Investment activity in June, I wasn’t able to boost my forward dividend income due to new investment.  That said, zero investment activity also meant no sales, so no income reduction either.  Thus, my forward dividend income from capital investment came in at $0.00 for June.

I’ll see if anything strikes my purchase fancy in July.  Perhaps I’ll have more to write about then. 🙂

 

Tallying Up The Additional Forward Dividend Income

In 2020, I continue tracking my additional forward dividend income generated each month from the trifecta of sources: reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and new capital investment.

I’ll be showing 2019’s totals, too, so that we can compare as the year progresses.

 

 

The additional forward dividend income generated in June was $56.51.  This certainly doesn’t compare favorably to the numbers I put up in the first 4 months of 2020, but at least I left the red numbers behind this time around.

Now at the half way point in the year, one can see I’m slightly ahead of the pace to eclipse last year’s additional dividend income total.  However, given how the year is progressing, my hot start seems like a distant memory.  Even though it looks like I should do better than last year’s totals, I’m worried the slowdown will leave me trailing by year’s end.  Time will tell.

For the 2nd month in a row, my ‘Reinvested Dividends’ led the charge to boost my forward dividend income.  At least ‘Dividend Raises’ were able to help out a bit in June.  Also, if I can get back to making a purchase or two, that would help the cause as well.

 

Progress Charts

The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.  Another crossing of $1,300 in a month is wonderful to see.

 

 

On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.  It looks like I might end up with a year-end total of $11,500 based on the numbers at mid-year.  While this is not the $12K I’m shooting for, it would still show good progress in growing the annual dividend number.

 

 

Summary

June felt like a bit of a bounce back compared to May.  The big dividend totals for quarter-ending months probably helps with that.

I recorded nearly $1,304 in dividends from 20 different dividend payers on the back of just over 15% YoY growth.  That’s another rung in the ladder to FI.

Reinvested dividends did the heavy lifting when it came to boosting my forward dividend income in June.  The boost was over $47 in new income from re-investments.

Dividend raises didn’t provide the same magnitude of improvement to my forward dividend income, but at least June delivered a positive number – a little over $9.  A couple of dividend freezes kept this number from reaching double digits.

It was all quiet on the transaction front, which led to no pop in my forward dividend income due to new investment.  Let’s hope i can rectify that next month.

Adding up all the additional forward dividend income showed progress of over $56 in June… back in the black here.

As for my Portfolio value, it was a 3rd straight month of gains, although the gains are becoming smaller each month.  Still, I’ll take gains over loses any month.

 

With half the year in the books, how would you assess your dividend progress in 2020?  Have the dividend cuts/suspensions slowed down for you?  Please share in the Comments!

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