In recent weeks, I haven’t been too eager to put any of my cash into the market.  Plenty of stocks had reached 52-week highs after a 5-month run-up in prices.

However, after a market pullback in the early weeks of April, a stock from my watchlist fell below my target price, so I decided to make a move.

For the first time in about 6 weeks, I’ve made an addition to my Portfolio.  I added to my newest position, one that I established about 3 months ago.

I’ve got a long way to go to build out this position, but this step certainly helps in that regard.

Let’s get the purchase details…

 

Hershey Co. (HSY)

My only previous purchase of HSY came when I initiated the position back in January at $188.22.  The price had gone above and below that level in the time I’ve held the stock.

Prior to this purchase, HSY was my 6th smallest holding.  Additions would need to be made to keep the position growing and to reach a minimum 1% weighting for the stock within my Portfolio.

As I noted in last month’s Portfolio Thoughts (Mar. 2024) post, I was targeting a price below $185 for an additional purchase… and I got it.

I didn’t buy enough of the stock to bring it to a 1% weighting within my Portfolio, but at least I’m moving in that direction.

On 4/15/24, I bought 5 shares of HSY at $182.50, for a total of $912.50.  The stock was yielding exactly 3% at that price.  This yield is about 0.21 percentage points above my current Portfolio yield of 2.79%.

My HSY position grew by 24.82% with this addition, bringing my share total to 25.141 shares.  The purchase also lowered my cost basis by a bit more than $1/share, to $187.12/share.

Also, my Portfolio’s annual forward dividend income increased by $27.40 with the purchase.

HSY jumped four spots in my Portfolio rankings and is now the 10th smallest holding in my Portfolio, sitting just behind UGI Corp. (UGI), but comfortably ahead of Enbridge (ENB).  HSY is also the 2nd smallest of my five Consumer Staples holdings, ahead of only McCormick & Co. (MKC).

With HSY being an existing holding, the number of stocks in my Portfolio remained at 58.

 

Summary

After a 6-week hiatus, I’m back to adding to my Portfolio.  This time around I bolstered the position of my newest holding, HSY.

With the price of HSY dipping below my target level, I scooped up 5 shares to keep the position growing, and moving HSY toward a 1% Portfolio weighting.

The addition almost got HSY out my Bottom 10 holdings, but not quite.  My HSY position has now exceeded 25 shares.

The buy lowered the cost basis of my HSY position to a small degree… just over $1/share.

This buy resulted in an investment of $912.50 into my Portfolio, and increased my forward dividend income by $27.40.

Should the price of HSY continue to decline, I’ll consider further additions.  A price south of $180 could motivate me to make another purchase.

 

What’s been your most recent stock purchase?  Do you find stocks particularly attractive in any particular sector right now?  Please share in the comments!