April turned out to be a pretty good month as far as my Portfolio was concerned.  The stock market trended higher once again and I noticed some solid gains throughout my Portfolio.

The stocks that comprise my top 10 holdings did not change overall.  However, movement was once again rampant within the group, as 7 of the 10 stocks changed positions.  As for the biggest movers, one stock was able to climb 3 spots, while another slipped 2 spots.  You’ll hear more about these stocks shortly.

Transactions in April weren’t abundant, but I did manage to make a handful of moves.  Included in those moves was the introduction of a new stock to my Portfolio, and the exit of another.  Keep reading to find out what stocks those were.

My watchlist seems to be getting smaller with each passing month, as stock prices continue to climb.  However, stocks in the Healthcare sector have presented me with a few options for future purchases.  I’ll share what stocks I’m looking at from that sector.

As always, there’s plenty to cover.  So without further ado, let’s check out my Portfolio Thoughts for April, 2021.

 

Value Movement

Just like last month, my top 2 stocks remain unchanged in the rankings.  Qualcomm (QCOM) safely claimed the #1 spot again, with RPM International (RPM) at #2.  So-so performance in April was enough to allow RPM to hold on to the #2 spot.

There was plenty of shuffling within the top 10 ranks after that.

 

 

For the 2nd month in a row,  Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) and T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) switched places in the rankings.  With April coming to an end, SWKS settled in at #3, while TROW was right behind at #4.  SWKS was able to move ahead thanks to a strong performance in April (more on that coming up).

At #5 was BlackRock (BLK), which maintained the same spot it had coming into the month.  BLK had an outstanding April performance, allowing it to stay ahead of another stock at #6, which had an even better month.

Which stock put the pressure on BLK?  It was Visa (V), which was my top stock in April, allowing it to move up three spots to #6.  V has been fairly flat for several months, but it’s now moving to new highs.

Union Pacific (UNP) was nearly flat for the month, which resulted in it slipping a spot to #7.  UNP has yet to have its business fully recover from the effects of the pandemic.

Coming in at #8 was Lowe’s Companies (LOW).  LOW fell a spot in the rankings after an average performance in April.  The stock has been so hot over the past few months that it would be reasonable if it pulled back a bit.  However, it did move higher in April, just not at the same clip as some of my other top 10 stocks.

Nike (NKE) rose a spot to #9 despite a less-than-stellar month of April.  After a monster climb in 2020, NKE has drifter lower to start 2021.  It seems that trend may continue a while longer.

Lastly, I have the one stock that moved down more than one spot in my rankings.  Procter & Gamble (PG) comes in at #10 after dropping a couple of spots.  PG was my only top 10 stock to drop in price during the month.  That’s always a recipe for moving down in the rankings.  On the bright side, PG announced a sweet 10% dividend raise in April, so I’ll have to overlook their short-term price action.

Aflac (AFL), Fastenal (FAST) and Nexstar Media Group (NXST) are sitting outside the top 10 and looking to get in.  PG had better watch out for this group, which is coming up quickly.

 

From the table above, my top 10 holdings now comprise 36.91% of my Portfolio value.  This is 0.52% higher compared to last month.  Most of the top 10 performed well in April, so this could be expected.

As for the dividend weighting of my top 10, this ended the month at 26.18%, which is exactly how it finished out last month.  All stocks except PG showed a slight decline in dividend weighting, as my investment dollars were put into stocks outside my top 10.  PG managed to buck that trend and show a noticeably higher dividend weighting due to their April dividend raise that I mentioned.

 

Transactions

April transaction activity perked up a bit compared to March.  First I had a trio of transactions early in the month, which led to a new stock in my Portfolio.

I essentially trimmed one position W.P. Carey (WPC) to establish a new one in OGE Energy (OGE).  Then I used a little cash to add to existing holding Merck & Co. (MRK).  Here are the details on those transactions…

 

Recent Transactions – WPC, OGE, MRK

 

Second, I made a pair of transactions late in April.  In this case I sold my entire Sysco (SYY) position in order to bolster my newest/smallest position (OGE).

All the details on these can be found in this post…

 

Recent Transactions – SYY & OGE

 

While I added OGE to my Portfolio, I did say goodbye to SYY.  Thus, there was no change to the number of stocks in my Portfolio, which remained at 52.

 

Price Movement

Note – my price changes cover closing prices from 3/26/21 to 4/29/21.

April gains were muted compared to what I realized in March.  However, positive results are always something to be cheered, so I’ll happily take what April offered up.

In April, I nearly posted a 3:1 ratio of stocks with price gains compared to price declines.  Of my 52 holdings, 38 moved higher, while only 14 moved lower.  Looking good!

While my Portfolio did sport a nice positive ratio, I didn’t really have any wildly successful stocks in April.  That said, I didn’t really have many big decliners either.

 

Of my 38 stocks that rose in price, only 2 managed gains over 10% (the usual threshold I monitor).  However, 7 additional stocks did post gains of 5% or more.

The top gainers were:

• Visa (V), rising 10.93%
• VF Corp (VFC), climbing 10.70%
• BlackRock (BLK), moving up 9.30%
• Main Street Capital (MAIN), advancing 8.84%
• Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), gaining 8.61%

One can see a couple of Technology names and a couple of Financial names in this top group.

VFC had a nice run in April after trading sideways over the past 2 months.

 

Of my 14 stocks that dropped in price, only one fell more than 10%.  Plus, only 1 other stock dropped more than 5%.  So, once again, it was another month with contained losses.  Here’s the worst of my decliners in April…

• Altria Group (MO), sinking 11.24%
• Amgen (AMGN), sagging 7.18%
• Merck & Co. (MRK), slipping 4.79%
• Air Lease (AL), dropping 4.38%
• Broadcom (AVGO), fading 3.27%

A pair of Healthcare names stick out in this list.  This led to these stocks hitting my watchlist radar.

Also, MO led my list of decliners in April after leading my list of gainers last month.  That’s quite the swing.

 

Watch List

I haven’t made any headway in 2021 with increasing my weighting in Information Technology and Communication Services (my two most underweight sectors).

However, I was able to boost an underweight sector by paring down my REITS and Consumer Staples a bit and reinvesting the proceeds in Utilities.

Industrials and Materials remain my most overweight sectors.

I’m at a good weighting in the Healthcare sector, but most of the opportunities I see in the market seem to be in this sector.  Thus, I may transition this sector weighting to somewhat overweight if I put some new investment dollars there.

As always, I’ll keep all these weightings in mind as I adjust my Portfolio, and my watchlist.

 

Within my Portfolio, here are some stocks that I’m watching for possible additions…

Healthcare names MRK and AMGN are near the top of my list for additions.  Both stocks with hit hard recently after lackluster quarterly earnings releases.

Another name from this sector that I’m watching is CVS Health (CVS).  This stock already has a more significant weighting in my Portfolio than MRK or AMGN, but adding a few shares while it’s still undervalued would be good.  I’m hoping CVS can get back to dividend raises in 2022.

I may try to add another share of Microsoft (MSFT) after the stock’s recent pullback on earnings.  While the price of MSFT still appears elevated despite its recent retreat, adding a share won’t significantly jack up my cost basis, but it will keep the position growing.

 

As for non-Portfolio stocks that I’m watching…

Not much that I’m following here.  Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) is the only stock I can think of, and of course it’s another Healthcare name.  BMY pulled back recently on an earning miss.  I’d be quite interested should it dip below $60/share.

 

Thoughts?

Do you see any values in the Healthcare sector?  What stocks have garnered your attention in recent weeks?  Please share your thoughts!