As we turn the calendar page and embark on a new month, it’s time to first tally up all the dividend income from the previous month.

We’ve got to wrap up May properly before we can focus on June, right?

While I didn’t set any dividend records for my Portfolio in May, I did manage some terrific progress.

I’m happy to report that I collected enough dividends to crack the $1K mark yet again.  What kind of margin did I have in passing that threshold?  Stick around to find out.

Year-over-Year (YoY) dividend income growth exceeded my target again in May.  That’ll keep my Portfolio income growing at a healthy clip.  I’ll let you know my growth percentage shortly.

My Dividend raises were once again limited in May, but the few I received were significant and put a big smile on my face.  I look forward to sharing the results in the paragraphs that follow.

I made a few Portfolio buys early in the month, but transactions were quiet thereafter.  Still, I was able to add some decent forward dividend income to my Portfolio thanks to the purchases.  I’ll provide details on the buys and the income it produced a little later.

Perhaps the best part of the month comes when I get to add up all my forward dividend income from my trifecta of income sources.  In May, I added triple-digit income, with 1 of my 3 sources providing triple-digits all on its own.  Now that’s a contribution I can get excited about.  Coming up, I’ll let you know which source boosted my income the most.

Of course, I’ll also provide updates to my Progress Charts as well – you’ll get visuals for both my monthly and annual dividend numbers.

Here we go…. let’s get to the specifics in my monthly dividend income report, starting with my May dividend income.

 

Dividend Income

 

It was another $1K+ month in May… these never get old!  I raked in $1,109.95 in dividends.  It was my first time exceeding $1.1K without the help of a special dividend in a non-quarter-ending month.

YoY growth came in strong as well.  I surpassed my 15% monthly target by recording 19.18% YoY growth, exceeding the $931.33 I collected in May of 2021.

A total of 17 companies paid me a dividend in May.  Just two of my dividend payers delivered a triple-digit dividend, but I now expect a third and fourth to arrive next quarter.

AbbVie (ABBV) led my dividend payers by providing a record $187.01 dividend – my largest regular dividend yet.  The dividend from Procter & Gamble (PG) was impressive, too… easily crossing into triple-digit territory.

My smallest dividend was a $20.42 payment from Realty Income (O).  New Portfolio holdings Verizon (VZ) and National Retail Properties (NNN) managed to come in a little ahead of that at $25.60 and $23.26, respectively.

The increased dividend amount from Starbucks (SBUX) was helped by an additional purchase 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 almost $23 in YoY dividend gains from Nexstar Media Group (NXST), almost $22 from ABBV, and more than $20 from Lowe’s Companies (LOW).  Wow!  There were significant contributions from other stocks as well.

For the 2nd month in a row, I had no stocks with payout reductions compared to the same month a year ago.

My Portfolio had 3 new dividend payers arrive in May.  Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) debuted with $48.89 as a result of me building out a position for almost an entire year.  VZ and NNN arrived as new payers, too, although they currently bring less income into my Portfolio.

There was only one stock that no longer paid a dividend for my Portfolio this May.  That stock was Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI).  I eliminated the position back in March.  The stock’s dividend safety has been questionable over the past couple of years.  The same can be said about the stock’s dividend growth, too.  That’s not a combination I want for my Portfolio stocks, so I sold my position and found other places to invest that capital.

As usual, all my dividends got automatically reinvested into the stocks that paid them.  The additional forward dividend income boost that resulted from the reinvestment was $31.55.  This surpassed my monthly $30 target.  ABBV was the primary contributor here, delivering about 3x the additional forward dividend income that any other holding did.

As a result of May’s reinvested dividends, I purchased close to 11 new shares of stock.  This included nearly 2 shares of Fastenal (FAST), and over 1 share of ABBV.

 

Dividend Raises

May brought only 2 dividend raises to my Portfolio, but they were both double-digit increases.

Couple that with the fact that both of these companies are some of my larger dividend payers and that meant a substantial boost to my forward dividend income.

My first raise in May came from Union Pacific (UNP).  After two 10%+ raises last year (May and December), I wasn’t sure if I should be expecting anything from UNP this May.  So, obviously I was happy to see UNP announce a solid 10.17% raise.  This stock just keeps chugging along within my Portfolio.

My second raise was delivered by LOW.  After a massive 33.33% raise a year ago, how could I expect LOW to come close to another increase like that.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic when LOW announced a 31.25% boost this year to follow that up.  Even better, it resulted my largest forward dividend income boost from a single raise… $96.84.  Sweet… nearly triple-digits from one raise!

 

 

Adding up the two dividend raises from May, my forward dividend income increased by $138.14.  Two raises providing triple-digit income.  Wow!

This improved upon the triple-digit income boost ($110.09) provided by these same two stocks in May 2021.  This is the kind of dividend growth I like.

I’d have to invest $5,292.72 at my Portfolio’s yield of 2.61% in order to receive the same boost to my forward dividend income as this month’s raises.

Looking ahead to June, I’m expecting at least 3 raises: annual ones from UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and Caterpillar (CAT), then the normal small quarterly raise from Realty Income (O).  One further raise that might be announced would be from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).  JPM typically announces in June, but this was shifted to September in 2021, as the Federal Reserve had a temporary restriction on bank dividend raises at the time.

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

Not much in the way of Portfolio activity in May.  However, I did make a few small additions to 3 existing Portfolio positions early in the month.

The purchases began with my 2nd foray into STORE Capital (STOR) since I initiated a position in March.  I was able to lower my cost basis a bit.

I followed that up with my first purchase of Starbucks (SBUX) in about 2 1/2 years.  SBUX has declined noticeably since the start of 2022 and I felt the valuation was attractive enough to add a few shares of this stock that always seems to trade at high valuations.

Lastly, I continued my small purchases of Visa (V) that I started last November.  With the stock trading in the $190s, I concluded that adding more shares of V was desirable.  Despite the low yield sported by V, it adds a nice growth element to my Portfolio.

With all 3 purchases happening in the same week, I provided purchase details for all of them in the same post…

 

Recent Buys – STOR, SBUX, V

 

The 3 purchases resulted in a capital investment of $1,296.75.

My forward dividend income increased by $43.60.  This was my best monthly total from new capital investment in 2022.

With all the purchased stocks being existing Portfolio holdings, the number of stocks in my Portfolio held steady at 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 May, I crossed the $200 threshold for the 2nd time this year!.

 

 

My additional forward dividend income totaled $213.29 for May.  This was more than double the total from last month, and it was my 2nd best total for 2022.

Once again, Dividend Raises paced my sources in delivering additional forward dividend income in May ($138.14).

I notched my best month of the year with regard to additional forward dividend income from Investment of Capital.  It wasn’t a huge amount ($43.60), but it finally allowed Investment of Capital to be something other than my weakest contributor for the month.

The contribution from Reinvested Dividends was as steady as ever ($31.55).  I was happy to see this number finish north of $30 for the 4th time in 5 months.

Compared to last year, my May total of additional forward dividend income increased by almost $57, with all 3 sources providing better numbers than they did in May, 2021.  I love it.

I’m still a little off the annual pace I set in 2021 five months into the year.  However, June and July were a couple of my weaker months from 2021, so perhaps I can get ahead here soon.

 

Progress Charts

The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.  Look at that consistent income growth in May over the years.

 

 

 

On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.  It took 5 months in 2022 to eclipse my dividend total from all of 2016.  Now that’s progress!

 

 

Summary

Dividends topped the $1.1K level in May, ending at $1109.95.  This represented 19.18% YoY growth.

Reinvesting my dividends brought home over $31 in additional forward dividend income.  This income exceeded my $30 monthly target.

May provided only 2 dividend raises… same as in April.  However, both were double-digit raises from a pair of my larger dividend payers.  Thus, the boost to my forward dividend income was outstanding at just over $138.  The contribution from LOW was nearly $97 alone!

I made 3 stock purchases in May.  I added to existing Portfolio holdings: STOR, SBUX & V.  My cash investment was nearly $1,300 and my additional forward dividend income increase approached $44.  It was my biggest monthly total due to new capital investment thus far in 2022.

Tallying the contributions from all sources, I added over $213 in additional forward dividend income for my Portfolio in May.  This total was not only double what I achieved last month, but it was a nice improvement from last year’s triple-digit total, as well.

My Portfolio’s annual forward dividend income total finished the month at $15,143.66.  I’m on my way to $16K by year’s end.

 

Were you a beneficiary of that tremendous LOW dividend raise?  Which of your portfolio stocks provides you with the most annual dividend income?  Please share in the Comments!

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