The time has come for another Monthly Dividend Income report!  What will I cover in this month’s report?  Here’s the plan…

We’ve finished up with April and it’s time to add up all the dividend income.  I’ve tallied at least $1K of dividend income in each of the past 5 months and I’m hoping that streak continued in April.  My projections had me just barely crossing that level.  How will it end up?… you’ll know in just a bit.

What about Year-over-Year (YoY) growth on that dividend income?  Let’s just say I surpassed my monthly target.  The specifics aren’t too far away so stay tuned.

Dividend raises were few and far between in April, but I recorded some decent forward dividend income thanks to the raises coming from a pair of my larger dividend payers.

Portfolio transactions were slightly elevated this month.  I can tell you I had both buys and sells, and one new stock entering my Portfolio.

When adding up all my forward dividend income from my trifecta of income sources, I once again entered into triple-digit monthly income territory.  Monthly progress like that keeps my income growing at a healthy pace.  I’m on a streak, too.  You’ll soon know how long that triple-digit streak has become.

Then there’s the updates to my progress charts as well.  Seeing the monthly and annual income progress in visual form can be motivating.

No more preview… let’s get to it… with my April dividend income to start us off.

 

Dividend Income

 

Look at that, another $1K+ month in April.  I collected a total of $1,012.29 in dividends.  Make that now 6 straight months staying above the $1K threshold.

As for YoY growth, I can’t complain there.  I bested my 15% monthly target by recording 17.39% YoY growth.  I did this by exceeding the $862.35 I collected in April of 2021.

A total of 20 companies paid me a dividend in April.  Only one of those dividend payers managed to top the $100 amount, but I’m planning on another stock to join the party next quarter.

Altria Group (MO) led my dividend payers by providing a $114.70 dividend.  Coming up just shy of $100 was RPM International (RPM).  However, I fully expect RPM to provide a triple-digit dividend in July thanks to its reinvested dividend.

My smallest dividend payment came from Amdocs Ltd. (DOX) at $15.80.  New dividend payers STORE Capital (STOR) and VICI Properties (VICI) came in a bit higher with both exceeding $19.

The increased dividend amounts from Merck & Co. (MRK), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and OGE Energy (OGE) were helped by additional purchases over the past year.

Increased YoY amounts for all other companies were a result of dividend increases and reinvested dividends over the past year.  I added over $12 in YoY dividend gains from MO, and more than $6 from RPM, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and Automatic Data Processing (ADP).

I’m happy to report that no stocks had payout reductions compared to last April.  This just means I haven’t been trimming any of my first-month-of-the-quarter dividend payers.

Plenty of new dividend payers arrived in my Portfolio this April… 5 in total!  Omnicom Group (OMC) debuted with a dividend north of $60.  The one from Medical Properties Trust (MPW) wasn’t to shabby either since it approached $40.  The ones from STOR, VICI and DOX all came in under $20, but were appreciated just as much.

Unfortunately, there were a handful of stocks that no longer paid a dividend for my Portfolio this April.  The most significant dividend no longer showing up is the one from W.P. Carey (WPC).  While its dividend is safe and its yield tops 5%, its waning dividend growth led me to pare down my position and then eventually eliminate it.  Air Lease (AL) was purged due to questionable dividend safety that arrived with the pandemic.  A similar-sized dividend from Iron Mountain (IRM) is now gone, too.  IRM was eliminated due to overvaluation in my mind.  Lastly, there’s Sysco (SYY), another stock that looked overvalued at the time I sold.  The position was small and I didn’t see myself adding to it, so I moved my investment elsewhere.

As usual, all my dividends got automatically reinvested into the stocks that paid them (well, except for the one from DOX).  The additional forward dividend income boost that resulted from the reinvestment was $33.70.  This surpassed my monthly $30 target.  MO was the primary contributor here.

As a result of April’s reinvested dividends, I purchased nearly 16 new shares of stock.  This included just over 2 shares of MO and nearly 2 shares from MPW.  I also received over 1 share each of RPM, Comcast (CMCSA), OGE and Gentex (GNTX).  That was some effective ‘dripping’ in April.

 

Dividend Raises

Well, the dividend raise slowdown I expected during the spring months was in full force in April… only 2 dividend raises for my Portfolio.

Neither raise was a double-digit percentage.  In fact, both came in around the mid-single-digit range.

However, both delivered decent forward dividend income ($23+) due to both stocks being some of my larger dividend payers.

My first raise in April was from Procter & Gamble (PG).  The 5% boost was only half of the 10% increase delivered last year.  Therefore, it was a bit underwhelming.  Still, I was thinking it would probably be a mid-to-upper single-digit raise, so PG delivered from that perspective.

On the other hand, coming in with a 6.6% raise was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).  This was nicely higher than the 4.95% boost provided by JNJ last year and on par with JNJ’s historical averages.

 

 

Adding up the two dividend raises from April, my forward dividend income increased by $50.72.  It was another month coming up shy of triple-digits, but that’s expected this time of year in my Portfolio.

As it turns out, the $50.72 was also exactly $10 less than what I recorded in April of last year from dividend raises.

I’d have to invest $1,935.88 at the average yield of 2.62% (which my Portfolio had at the end of April) in order to receive the same boost to my forward dividend income as this month’s raises.

Looking ahead to May, there may be only one dividend raise I receive.  It would be from Lowe’s Companies (LOW).  I might have anticipated hearing something from Union Pacific (UNP) in May, too, but after UNP delivered their 2nd raise of 2021 this past December, it’s hard to expect another raise next month.

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

Portfolio activity in April was a little heavier than normal.  I found myself buying a bit more with stock prices continuing to decline.

However, I started the month with a sale.  I trimmed one of my Industrials holdings in 3M Co. (MMM) and used most of the proceeds to re-introduce a stock to my Portfolio.  I added fellow Industrials stock Cummins (CMI) back to my Portfolio after a long hiatus (nearly 6 years).

More buying continued after that.  I added a few shares of JPM again after purchasing some in March, too.

Later in the month, I bought some Verizon (VZ) shares to bolster my initial investment from late March.

I then acquired some T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) shares for the first time in years given that it sports what I consider to be an appealing valuation.

All the details for these transactions can be found in the following three posts…

 

Recent Transactions – MMM & CMI

Recent Buy – JPM

Recent Buys – VZ & TROW

 

These five transactions resulted in a net capital investment of $1,009.46.  With my one trim, I recorded a net long-term capital loss of $603.53.

My forward dividend income increased by a net $20.60.  This was my best monthly total due to new capital investment in 2022.

With the addition of newcomer CMI, the number of stocks in my Portfolio ticked up by one to 57.

 

Tallying Up The Additional Forward Dividend Income

In 2022, 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 show 2021 totals as well, so that we can compare as the year progresses.  In April, I managed another triple-digit month for additional forward dividend income… just barely.

 

 

My additional forward dividend income added up to $105.02 for April.  This was my lowest total for 2022, but any triple-digit month is considered a success in my Portfolio.

As it has each month so far in 2022, Dividend Raises delivered my best total for any source in April ($50.72).

With declining stock prices for my holdings, Reinvested Dividends delivered a solid total for the month ($33.70).

My Investment of Capital category brought up the rear again in April ($20.60), but I expect that might not last long if I ratchet up my investment due to falling stock prices.

Compared to last year, my April total of additional forward dividend income declined by nearly $50, mostly due to a lower Investment of Capital number.

After 4 months in 2022, I’m a little off the pace I set in 2021.  There’s still time to make up ground, but I don’t want to fall behind further.

 

Progress Charts

The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.  I love seeing the monthly totals in 2022 continue to top the $1K threshold.

 

 

 

On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.  $15K for the entire year is looking a bit challenging at this point.  I’ve got more capital investments to make in 2022 which should help, but getting some outsized dividend raises would be nice, too.

 

 

Summary

Dividends totaled over $1K yet again, and my Portfolio finished with a total of $1,012.29.  YoY growth topped my 15% target, settling at a solid 17.39%.

Reinvesting my dividends resulted in close to $34 in additional forward dividend income.  That bested my $30 monthly target.  Totals from reinvested dividends has been strong in 2022 thanks to declining stock prices.

Dividend raises were sparse… only 2 in April for my Portfolio.  However, they came from two of my legacy stocks (PG & JNJ), which are a pair of my bigger dividend payers.  Thus, the additional forward dividend income from these two raises was decent, at just under $51.

I tallied five Portfolio transactions in April – one sale and four purchases.  The sale was a trim of MMM.  I’ve been disappointed with the dividend growth from MMM.  As for the purchases, I initiated a new position in CMI, and added to existing positions in JPM, VZ and TROW.

My total cash investment from the transactions was a little over $1,009.  With the net investment, my additional forward dividend income increased by about $20.  This amount was not large, but it was my biggest monthly total due to new capital investment thus far in 2022.

Tallying the contributions from all sources, I added over $105 in additional forward dividend income for my Portfolio in April.  It was yet another triple-digit month, which is awesome.

My Portfolio’s annual forward dividend income total finished the month at $14,930.37.  I should top $15K by this time next month.

 

Were dividend raises more plentiful for you in April than they were for me?  At what level did your portfolio’s forward dividend income end the month of April?  Please share in the Comments!

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