September was a busy month in my dividend Portfolio.  Besides the usual plethora of dividend payers and income that come with a quarter-ending month, I had some other heightened activity.

Despite some tame YoY growth, dividend income was solid… although it didn’t set a record.  It’s possible I had a record number of companies pay me though.  The register seemed to be ringing all month long.

Dividend raises were plentiful as well.  I heard raise announcements from enough holdings of mine that it tied for the most I’ve had in a single month.  Most of the raises met my growth expectations, but a few lagged.

I made quite a few Portfolio transactions in September, too.  I continued to adjust my Portfolio, weeding out a couple of stocks due to questionable dividend safety.  I also purchased some stocks that appeared to have appealing valuations.  I’ll recap the activity for you, then let you know how it affected my forward dividend income.

Speaking of my additional forward dividend income, all 3 categories (reinvested dividends, dividend raises and new capital investment) impressively delivered in September, keeping me on pace to reach a pair of goals I have in sight.  Where I stand with regards to my additional forward dividend income total as we head into Q4’21 will be covered.

Of course, I’ll provide some updated monthly and annual progress charts as well.

So, here we go… starting with this month’s dividend income.

 

Dividend Income

 

My dividend total was outstanding in September, coming in at $1,427.05… my 2nd highest monthly total ever!  The total only came in behind the $1,535.59 that I posted this past March.

While the dividend total was strong, YoY growth was a tad disappointing.  Growth was 8.77% when comparing this September’s dividend total to the $1,311.96 from September, 2020.  This was well short of my 15% target.

A total of 23 companies paid me a dividend in September.  Over 7 of those were triple-digit payments, but 3 came in with single-digit numbers, too.  Dividends amounts ran the gamut in September.

Qualcomm (QCOM) led my payers with a $143.88 dividend.  T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) wasn’t too far behind at $130.48.  On the lower end, my Organon & Co. (OGN) dividend was my smallest.  This will be my one and only OGN dividend as I closed out my position by selling the few shares I had in late August.

The increased dividend amounts from Gilead Sciences (GILD), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Realty Income (O) and Microsoft (MSFT) were helped by additional purchases over the past year.

Increased YoY amounts for the other companies were a result of dividend increases and reinvested dividends over the past year.  I recorded nearly $26 in YoY dividend gains from TROW as a result of a generous 20% dividend raise this past February and reinvesting the special dividend paid in July.  Other nice organic boosts included adding over $17 from Aflac (AFL), nearly $15 from Broadcom (AVGO), over $14 from BlackRock (BLK) and $10 from Union Pacific (UNP).

Only 1 stock posted a payout reduction when comparing to last September, and that was 3M Co. (MMM).  The reduction was due to my trimming of the position back in May.  The stock looked a little overvalued at the time, and it allowed me to lighten up on my Industrial sector weighting.

Amazingly, I recorded 6 new dividend payers in September.  It was Walgreens Boot Alliance (WBA) that delivered the largest amount, and OGN (already covered) bringing the smallest.

I also had 3 dividend payers disappear this September compared to last year – Exxon Mobil (XOM), TCF Financial (now part of HBAN), and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC).  XOM and WFC were jettisoned from the Portfolio for questionable dividends, while TCF was sold just prior to their merger with Huntington Bancshares (HBAN).

As usual, all my dividends got automatically reinvested into the stocks that paid them.  The resulting additional forward dividend income boost from this was $36.84.  This was my largest forward income boost from reinvesting dividends for any month this year.  This just beat out the totals I registered in June & July.

With all the reinvested dividends from September, I purchased over 11 new shares of stock.  This included over 1 share of QCOM, AFL, GILD and WBA.

 

Dividend Raises

I was expecting quite a few dividend raises in September and that’s the way it worked out.  We even got the official word from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) regarding their raise, too.

So, needless to say I was a happy guy given that all the predicted companies delivered as expected.  Heck, I even predicted which company might have the biggest raise in last month’s Monthly Dividend Income post and I actually got it right.

All totaled, I recorded 8 dividend raise announcements in September, which ties for the most I’ve had in one month.  All of the announcements came near the midway point of the month or thereafter.  So, while it took a couple of weeks for the dividend raises to heat up in September, they came hot and heavy once the first arrived.

Three of the eight raises were of the double-digit variety… that’s always awesome.  This group was led by Texas Instruments (TXN) and their 12.75% raise.  JPM wasn’t too far behind at 11.11%.  This percentage from JPM was announced months ago, but never became official until September.  The last of the double-digit raises came from MSFT, which provided a 10.71% raise.

Another two raises were north of 7.5%, which is a good threshold to cross.  I consider anything above 8% to be ‘fast’ dividend growth.  Starbucks (SBUX) came in with an 8.89% dividend raise, while Lockheed Martin (LMT) announced a 7.69% raise.

My most disappointing raise probably came from OGE Energy (OGE), which announced a 1.86% raise.  This was less than half of the 4% minimum I was hoping for.

My last two raises were smaller than that from OGE, but since they were expected to be small, I wasn’t as disappointed.  These two raises were the small quarterly ones I get from O and W.P. Carey (WPC).  These came in at 0.21% and 0.19%, respectively.

 

 

Thanks to all the dividend raises in September, my forward dividend income increased by $93.41.  I would have like to cross the $100 threshold, but it wasn’t to be.  Still, it was a great total and it keeps alive my chances of reaching $1K from dividend raises in 2021.

I’d have to invest $3,828.28 at my Portfolio’s current average yield of 2.44% in order to receive the same boost to my forward dividend income as this month’s raises.

Looking ahead, I’m expecting half the number of dividend raises in October that I saw in September.   I expect to hear from RPM International (RPM), Visa (V), V.F. Corp. (VFC) and Pinnacle West Capital (PNW).  I would say RPM, V and VFC all came in shy of expectations last year, so I’m hoping for an upside surprise this year.  It’s possible AbbVie (ABBV) provides news of a dividend raise later in the month, too.  However, it wouldn’t surprise me if their announcement slips into November.

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

Portfolio transactions were numerous in September.  I guess one could say it was a carryover from all the activity in August.

However, I really didn’t invest much in the way of new capital.  Instead, I completely sold or trimmed some positions and then redirected the proceeds.

I made 9 moves in total – 6 purchases and 3 sales.  This was almost identical to last month.

I started by eliminating my Iron Mountain (IRM) position and replacing it with a new holding, fellow REIT Medical Properties Trust (MPW).

This was followed by selling the last of my Air Lease (AL) shares and using most of the proceeds to snap up some shares of Omnicom Group (OMC), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and LMT.

Finally, I trimmed my Omega Healthcare (OHI) position and used the proceeds and some cash to establish a position in National Retail Properties (NNN), and add some additional shares of BMY.

All the reasoning and details for these 9 transactions can be found in the following posts…

 

Recent Transactions – IRM & MPW

Recent Transactions – AL, OMC, BMY, LMT

Recent Transactions – OHI, NNN, BMY

 

All the transactions resulted in a net investment of only $180.34.  However, with lower-yielding investments being replaced by higher-yielding ones, I was able to increase my forward dividend income by $64.60.

While MPW and NNN were new additions to my Portfolio, this was offset by the departure of IRM and AL.  Thus, the number of stocks in my Portfolio remained at 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 totals being put up for 2021 are looking good.  I have a chance to exceed the highest total I’ve ever had (from 2018).

 

 

Once again, I had great contributions from all 3 sources, allowing me to approach the $200 mark for the month.  I notched my 3rd best month of 2021 with the $194.85 increase.

This was my 9th straight month of adding triple-digit income.  I’m hoping to keep this up for another 3 months and have every month this year cross that $100 total.

Dividend Raises led the charge this month, adding over $93 of new income.  That was followed by a little less than $65 from Investment of Capital, and nearly $37 from Reinvested Dividends.

With that nice Dividend Raises total, I kept alive my hopes of reaching $1K in this category for the year.  I need to average about $82/mo. over the final 3 months to hit that target.  It’s going to come down to the wire.

I also have a shot at a combined total $2K for the year.  I need to average about $150/mo. the rest of the way to reach that mark.

My current annual total of $1,550.80 is already my 2nd best annual total since starting my Portfolio.  Only the $1,958.60 from 2018 lies ahead of it.

 

Progress Charts

The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.  September’s total pushed me over the $1,400 mark for just the 3rd time.

 

 

 

On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.  In just 9 months this year, I’ve essentially collected the same amount that I raked in for all of 2019.  I like that growth!

 

 

Summary

It was another great month of dividends in September.  We’ve now wrapped up three-fourths of 2021 and I’m well on my way to meeting my dividend goals.

This month, I collected over $1,427 in dividends (my 2nd best total ever), but YoY growth fell short of my 15% target by a decent amount, at 8.77%.

All dividends continued to be reinvested into the stocks that paid them.  This led to nearly $37 of additional forward dividend income due to reinvested dividends – my best monthly total of 2021.

A whopping 8 dividend raises were recorded in September, matching the most I’ve had in any single month.  Most of the raises in September topped 7%, but three were shy of 2%.  Still, these raises added a $93 boost to my forward dividend income.

Portfolio transactions remained frequent in September (I had 9 moves) as I continued to tweak my Portfolio.  I worked on dividend safety within my Portfolio for a 2nd straight month, eliminating a couple of stocks (IRM & AL) in the process.  Meanwhile I added MPW and NNN to replace some of the lost dividend income that came with those sales.  Total cash investment was only about $180 in September, but I still managed to add over $64 in additional forward dividend income – mainly by buying stocks with higher yields compared to those that I sold.

Tallying the contributions from all sources, I totaled almost $195 in additional forward dividend income for my Portfolio.  My Portfolio’s current annual forward dividend income total stands at $13,587.26.

 

What do you hope to accomplish in the final quarter of 2021 with regards to dividends?  Post a record-breaking dividend total?  Raise forward dividend income to a target level?  Please share in the Comments!

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