We have reached the halfway point in 2021!  As it always seems, the time is flying by.  I don’t mind though… it just means that the next pile of dividends is delivered to me that much faster.  🙂

As that time elapses, and without moving a muscle, the dividend income rolls in.  Having a passive income stream coming from my Portfolio in the form of dividends is quite comforting.

My dividend income amount continues to impress, too.  While I didn’t set any records this month, I did have my 2nd best total ever.  I like that!

In June, my YoY dividend growth tailed off a bit.  Unfortunately, I didn’t hit my target number, but it’s nothing to be worried about… it’s a small bump in the road.

As we enter the summer season, dividend raise announcements are cooling down a bit.  That’s normal for this time of year… at least for my Portfolio.  Still, I did have a handful of raises this month, all on the smaller side.  I’ll cover those shortly.

I only recorded a single Portfolio transaction in June.  This didn’t help boost my forward dividend income very much.  However, it was progress, and the transaction added a new stock to my Portfolio, so that’s a bit exciting.  I’ll let you know about my new holding very soon.

My additional forward dividend income total for June was my lowest thus far in 2021, but I still reached a triple-digit total.  I got nearly equal contributions from all three contributors: reinvested dividends, dividend raises and new capital investment.  Meanwhile, the totals at the halfway point of the year look rather strong, so we’ll check those out as well.

Let’s not waste any more time (it flies by fast enough on its own).  As usual, we’ll start with this month’s dividend income…

 

Dividend Income

 

I had several solid dividend payments in June.  Seven of them were north of the $100 level.  That certainly brings a big smile to my face.  All totaled, in June I collected an outstanding $1,413.05 in dividends.  Again, this was my 2nd best total ever.

YoY growth fell well shy of the 15% number that I target.  It ended up at 8.36% when comparing this June’s dividend total to the $1,303.99 from June 2020.  I’ll work on posting better numbers for next month.

A total of 22 companies paid me a dividend this June.  Dividend payments ran the gamut, too.

My 7 triple-digit payers were led by my largest Portfolio holding, Qualcomm (QCOM), which sent me $143.17.  Meanwhile, I had a pair of payments come in under $10, too.  These were delivered by Microsoft (MSFT) and NextEra Energy (NEE) – a couple of my smaller positions with yields south of my Portfolio average.  A $5.78 dividend from NEE was my smallest this month.

The increased dividend amounts from Aflac (AFL), 3M Co. (MMM), Gilead Sciences (GILD), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Realty Income (O) and MSFT were helped by additional purchases over the past year.  It seems I was busy buying!

Increased YoY amounts for most of the other companies were a result of dividend increases and reinvested dividends over the past year.  I notched some impressive YoY dividend gains, too: over $24 from T. Rowe Price Group (TROW), over $15 from Broadcom (AVGO), and over $14 from BlackRock (BLK).   These gains were all organic (a combination of dividend raises and dividend reinvestment).  Other nice organic boosts in the $7-$10 range were achieved by Union Pacific (UNP), QCOM and Pepsico (PEP).  I’ll take more months like this please.

For stocks that paid me both last June and this June, I didn’t have any payout reductions, so that was nice to see.

New dividend payers were plentiful in June… 5 of them.  Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) had the strongest debut, delivering $70.91 in dividends, while the previously mentioned $5.78 from NEE was the smallest.  Lockheed Martin (LMT), Amgen (AMGN) and Pinnacle West Capital (PNW) round out the new payer group.  New contributions are always nice.

Unfortunately, I did have a rather large group of dividend payers disappear this June compared to last year.  These were the result of me purging the stocks from my Portfolio.  This certainly stunted my YoY growth, however, my Portfolio should be better for it in the long-term.  The loss of dividend income from Exxon Mobil (XOM) was the hardest to overcome thanks to going from $114.83 to $0.  Kontoor Brands (KTB) had suspended their dividend at the time I sold all the shares I had.  Thus, that one was a bit easier to manage.  🙂

As usual, all my dividends got automatically reinvested into the stocks that paid them.  The resulting additional forward dividend income boost from this activity came in at $36.09.  This blew away the monthly $25 target I have.

With all the reinvested dividends from June, I purchased over 10.9 new shares of stock.  This included over 1 share each of QCOM, AFL, GILD & WBA.

 

Dividend Raises

All the raise announcements I expected in June for my various Portfolio companies came to be.  Strangely, that seems to be a rare occurrence.

The month started with my biggest raise, a 16% boost from UNH.  This continued the strong dividend growth from UNH.  Raises from UNH have been so good over the past decade that 16% is a step down from their usual.  Wow!

Later the same day, Caterpillar (CAT) announced a 7.77% raise.  I feel lucky with a number like that – where’s the casino?  This raise was nice in that it was the first from CAT since May, 2019.  This put an end to the dividend freeze it had.  Despite the freeze, CAT should manage to keep its dividend streak alive, as their annual dividend did increase each year from 2019 to 2021 (assuming they continue with their increased dividend through year’s end).

To finish out the raise announcements for June, I got the small quarterly raise announcements from REITs Realty Income (O) and W.P. Carey (WPC).  The raises were 0.21% and 0.19%, respectively.  I’m hoping these two companies can get back to healthier raises in the near future, as raises like these don’t move the needle much.

 

 

June’s dividend raises increased my forward dividend income by $31.95.  This was my lowest total of the year, but still a respectable amount.

I’d have to invest $1,401.32 at my Portfolio’s current average yield of 2.28% in order to receive the same boost to my forward dividend income as this month’s raises.

Looking ahead, it doesn’t appear July will bring a plethora of raises to my Portfolio.  It seems like 1 or 2 raises could be it.  I expect to hear from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) at a minimum.  After that, I hope to hear something official from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).  JPM said this week that they intend to raise the quarterly dividend from $0.90/sh. to $1.00/sh. (an 11.11% raise), however, I’m waiting for it to become official.  That could happen in July, or perhaps occur later this summer.

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

As noted in the intro, new investment was limited in June.  I was able to make one purchase, which introduced a new stock to my Portfolio.

I ended up dipping my toes back into the Healthcare sector to add Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY).

All the details for this transaction (number of shares bought, yield at time of purchase, etc.) can be found in the following post…

 

Recent Buy – BMY

 

Some details I’ll share now though… it was a net investment of $1,110.10, and a boost to my forward dividend income of $33.32.

As a result of the buy, the number of stocks in my Portfolio climbed by one, to 53.

However, with Merck & Co. (MRK) spinning off Organon & Co. (OGN) earlier in June as well, I guess the number is technically 54.

 

Tallying Up The Additional Forward Dividend Income

In 2021, I’ve continued tracking my additional forward dividend income generated each month from the trifecta of sources: reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and new capital investment.

I show 2020’s totals, too, so that we can compare as the year progresses.  The current totals for 2021 look good.  Avoiding the negative numbers I encountered in 2020 certainly helps!

 

 

In June, all 3 categories (Reinvested Dividends, Dividend Raises & Investment of Capital) came in with monthly totals that were very similar.

Reinvested Dividends led they way.  That doesn’t happen too often, but it did this time around.  The $36.09 from Reinvested Dividends was my largest amount year-to-date in that category.

While I had my lowest total of the year from Dividend Raises, I nearly notched $32, which isn’t bad at all.  If I can come close to duplicating the Dividend Raises total I recorded from the 1st half of the year in the 2nd half, then I will cross $1K from Dividend Raises for the year.  I came up just shy of this goal back in 2018 with ~$924, but haven’t come close since.  Could this be the year?

With just one purchase in June, the boost from Investment of Capital was muted, but it did add a bit over $33, so that was welcomed.  I’ve only invested about $3.5K of the $10K I planned to invest at the start of the year, so I should see an uptick in this category in the back half of the year.

At mid-year you can see I’ve totaled over $1K in additional forward dividend income when summing all 3 categories.  That’s terrific.  Hitting $2K by year’s end would be amazing.  I hope it can play out like this.  I’ll do my best to make it happen.

 

Progress Charts

The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.  In June, I crossed the $1.4K line for the 2nd time ever… it feels great!

 

 

 

On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.  I’m averaging over $1K a month in dividends so far in 2021… and I’m well on my way to surpassing last year’s dividend total.  I’d say things are shaping up nicely!

 

 

Summary

It was another outstanding month of collecting dividends in my Portfolio.

I brought in just over $1,413 in dividends from 22 dividend payers.  I had 7 payments over $100 alone… sweet!

YoY dividend growth didn’t come close to meeting my goal, but I still managed a respectable 8.3%+ for June.

June dividend reinvestment occurred like clockwork – all payments were reinvested into the stocks that paid them.  This provided a $36 boost to my additional forward dividend income.

Dividend raises were good with four total.  UNH delivered my largest raise percentage, not to mention the most forward dividend income.  However, two of the raises provided token amounts that didn’t help boost my forward dividend income much.  The total additional dividend income boost of $32 was good, but it was my lowest total of the year.

Only one Portfolio transaction took place in June.  It was a purchase of BMY – a new stock for my Portfolio.  It was an investment of over $1,110 providing over $33 of additional forward dividend income.

Adding up the contributions from all categories in June, I totaled over $101 in additional forward dividend income for my Portfolio.  This continues my streak of reaching at least $100 each month this year.  I hope this can continue.  My Portfolio’s current annual forward dividend income total stands at $13,066.96.

 

How do things look for your portfolio at the mid-point of 2021?  Are you ahead of the dividend pace you desire?  What’s been your bigger accomplishment on the dividend front thus far – dividend total or YoY growth?  Please share in the Comments!

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