I’ve got a few more Portfolio moves to disclose.  I’m long overdue in mentioning the first move, while the other two are much more recent.

It total, I made 3 transactions, all of which are buys.  In addition, each stock is already an existing Portfolio holding.

The first two moves were roughly equal with regard to the dollars I invested, while with the third I invested an amount about equal to the total of the first two.

One of the stocks I added to earlier in the year, while another was added to for the first time in 5 years.  The last stock got its first buy since I initiated the position about 18 months ago.

Alright, let’s get to the specifics.  Here are the details for all 3 of my purchases…

 

McCormick & Co. (MKC)

I’ve been patient when it comes adding to my position in this Consumer Staples stock.  MKC has historically traded at a premium, but it’s getting much more affordable these days after getting a 33% price cut over the past 4 months.

I still consider MKC to be somewhat overvalued, but it is trading below the level of my last purchase price, so I decided to add a few shares.

On 10/4/23, I bought 5 shares of MKC at $66.80, for a total of $334.  The stock was yielding 2.34% at that price, or roughly 2/3 of a percentage point lower than my recent Portfolio yield of 3.00%.

My MKC position grew nearly 16.4% with the purchase.  The number of shares I own rose to 35.51 shares.

This was my second addition to MKC since I initiated the position a little over 1 year ago.  It was also my lowest purchase price for MKC yet.  This purchase lowered my cost basis to $75.16/share.

My Portfolio’s annual forward dividend income increased by $7.80 as a result of the purchase.

MKC has dropped further in price since my buy early in the month.  It dipped below $60 a couple of times over the past 3 weeks, but has recovered some recently.  I’ll consider another add south of $60 should it get there.  However, there are plenty of stocks competing for my investment dollars these days with the market downtrend.

With the purchase, MKC became my 6th smallest Portfolio position.  It trailed American Tower (AMT) by a decent amount in my value rankings, and was narrowly ahead of The Walt Disney Co. (DIS).

 

Texas Instruments (TXN)

Another stock that usually trades at a premium is TXN.  I established my TXN position early in 2018 and haven’t added to it since I did later that year – so 5 years ago.

TXN has retreated in price over 20% over the past 3 months.  I was watching for a dip below $150 and the stock recently crossed that threshold, so I made a small addition.

On 10/20/23, I bought 2 shares of TXN at $148.355, for a total of $296.71.  The stock was yielding 3.51% at that price, which tops my current Portfolio yield.

My TXN position got nearly 3.5% larger with the purchase.  The number of shares I own is now 59.585 shares.

This was my most expensive TXN purchase yet, but I would hope so considering it’s been 5 years since my last TXN buy.  This buy raised my TXN cost basis to $110.95/share.

My Portfolio’s annual forward dividend income increased by $10.40 as a result of the purchase.

TXN has continued to fall in price over the past week and can now be had at nearly $143.  Even so, TXN doesn’t appear undervalued here.  Still, the price is as low as it’s been in 3 years, and I didn’t mind adding to my position to a small degree.

After this buy, TXN settled in as my 28th largest holding… just making it into the top half of my Portfolio.  TXN sits just behind Comcast (CMCSA) in my Portfolio value rankings, but it has a decent lead on CVS Health (CVS).

 

Cummins (CMI)

Last but not least is my addition of CMI.  It was one of my smallest holdings (and still is after this add).

CMI appeared to me to provide the best value of the 3 stocks I purchased.  I was waiting for CMI to dip below $220 before adding.

I can’t say I need to increase my weighting in the Industrials sector, but this is a position I want to see grow in my Portfolio, so I’ll deal with the sector being more overweight now.

On 10/20/23, I bought 3 shares of CMI at $219.733, totaling $659.20.  The stock was yielding 3.06% at that price.  This closely mirrors my current Portfolio yield.

My CMI position is now 28.8% bigger, and the number of shares I own has grow to 13.421 shares.  The purchase raised my cost basis to $204.34/share.

My Portfolio’s annual forward dividend income increased by a tidy $20.16 with the CMI purchase.

CMI went from being my 5th smallest holding prior to my addition, to the 9th smallest holding afterwards.  There’s plenty of room to add further to this position.  I wouldn’t be surprised if CMI pulls back and dips below $200.  If so, I might be inclined to add more shares below that level.

At this time, CMI is sandwiched tightly in between REIT VICI Properties (VICI) and Utility UGI Corp (UGI) in my Portfolio value rankings.

 

With all 3 of my buys being existing holdings, the number of stocks in my Portfolio stayed at 60.

 

Summary

I made a trio of purchases in recent weeks, after my Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) sale and Enbridge (ENB) buy that kicked off the month of October.

All three of these recent purchases were of existing Portfolio stocks.  The MKC and CMI buys were of bottom 10 holdings in an attempt to make them more substantial.  The TXN add helped bump my Information Technology weighting a bit, but allowed me to enhance a favored position for the first time 5 years.

MKC and TXN got roughly the same investment amount (~$300), with CMI getting about twice that.

In the case of MKC, I lowered its cost basis with the new share purchase.  However, my cost basis for TXN and CMI went up with my share additions of them.

The three purchases resulted in a total investment of $1,289.91 into my Portfolio.  My forward dividend income moved higher by $38.36 as a result of the three buys.

I’ll be on the lookout for lower prices for each of these 3 stocks, as well as other Portfolio holdings that are coming down in price.

 

What stocks have you been attracted to lately?  Have you committed to adding any of their shares in recent weeks?  Please share in the comments!