I closed out the 1st half of 2024 with a bang! It’s been 15 months since my previous record dividend month, but the long wait is over.
Even better… I accomplished the feat by hitting a dividend milestone at the same time! Stick around to find out which milestone was reached.
My Portfolio income is progressively increasing each quarter and each year. It’s a beautiful site to see, that’s for sure.
After I post my mid-year goal review in the next week or two, I’ll be working hard to see if I can finish the 2nd half of the year on a strong note and achieve $20K in annual dividend income for 2024.
Here’s a preview of what’s in store for my June dividend income report…
Quarter-ending months are usually good for dividend investors, and June didn’t disappoint me in that regard. In fact, it delivered big time. Record dividend income! What was the final total? You’ll know shortly.
Year-over-Year (YoY) dividend growth came very close to my monthly target. I did fall a tad short, but double-digit growth of any kind is hard to argue with.
I recorded 5 dividend raises in June, and I was generally happy to see the raise percentages announced. Did any double-digit raises get delivered? The answer is coming.
No stocks joined or exited my Portfolio during the past month, but there were some transactions involving my existing Portfolio holdings. I’ll be certain to link to all the moves.
All 3 annual forward dividend income sources (reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and investment of capital) were solid in June. Each source provided at least $50 in additional forward dividend income in June. Thus, we know I topped $150 in additional forward dividend income this month, but did I top $200? Keep reading to find out.
Don’t forget… I’ll share updated dividend progress charts (both monthly and annual) later in the post.
Here we go… starting with that record dividend income for June.
Dividend Income
For the first time ever, I eclipsed $2K in dividends for a single month! It was a close call, but it got done… $2,002.22 in dividends. It was exactly 6 years ago in June that I reached my first-ever $1K dividend month. Also, make it at least $1.5K in dividends for the 5th month in a row.
I came up shy of my 15% YoY growth target, but I won’t complain about the solid double-digit percentage of 14.51% that I did record.
A total of 22 companies paid me a dividend in June. Eight of those payers delivered a triple-digit dividend. Two more are knocking on the triple-digit door as well. My top dividend payer this month was Broadcom (AVGO), at $183.49, however, the $182.35 dividend from Qualcomm (QCOM) didn’t lag by much.
My smallest dividend of the month was also my lone dividend coming in under $27. It belonged to Microsoft (MSFT) and was $13.83. The handful of MSFT shares I own, coupled with the stock’s low yield, was the recipe for my smallest dividend amount.
The increased dividend amounts from BlackRock (BLK), Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), NextEra Energy (NEE), Cummins (CMI), Realty Income (O) and MSFT were each helped by one or more 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 more than $30 in YoY dividend gains from Aflac (AFL), exceeded $24 from AVGO, topped $15 from Pepsico (PEP), and nearly reached $15 from QCOM, $10 from T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) and $9 from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Most of the boost from Main Street Capital (MAIN) was thanks to a larger special dividend in 2024 compared to 2023.
Of the stocks that paid me in both June of last year and this year, none of them posted a payout reduction. That certainly helped keep my YoY growth elevated.
As for new June dividend payers, there were two. Enbridge (ENB) debuted with a hefty $83.71 dividend, while Hershey & Co. (HSY) delivered a more modest $34.44 first-time dividend.
With regard to stocks that no longer pay me a dividend this June… there were a pair of stocks. The most significant loss came from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), as $79.49 no longer comes my way. I cut WBA loose for multiple reasons. Its stock price performance has continued to erode since I purged it from my Portfolio. The same can be said for my second stock no longer paying me a dividend in June, V.F. Corp (VFC). Although, the $31.56 in lost dividend income from VFC is easier to handle.
Once again, the majority of my dividends got automatically reinvested into the stocks that paid them. However, there were a couple of exceptions. First, AVGO didn’t get reinvested as my broker stopped this from occurring starting last year due to the high share price. I’m hoping I’ll be able to re-enable this by next quarter, as AVGO will soon undergo a 10-for-1 stock split, reducing its share price. In the case of Whirlpool (WHR), the dividend wasn’t reinvested since I sold my position in its entirety just after it went ex-dividend.
With regard to the reinvestment that did take place, it added $55.88 of additional forward dividend income to my Portfolio. TROW added over $7 to this month’s additional forward dividend income total, while MAIN, PEP and ENB all came in north of $5. There were 7 other stocks accounting for more than $2 as well – plenty of good contributors in June.
As a result of reinvested dividends in June, I dripped over 14 new shares of stock. This included 3 stock positions (MAIN, ENB & AFL) getting close to 2 new shares, and another pair (TROW & SWKS) exceeding 1 new share.
Dividend Raises
June dividend raises turned out better than I expected. This was primarily due to receiving one more raise than I planned on. That raise came on the last trading day of the month, too, so it was a last-minute surprise.
I received 5 dividend raises in June, which was one more than the 4 garnered in May. If I take out the one token raise I was expecting, the others were all quite nice in terms of the raise percentage. All those raises topped 8%, and one even climbed into double-digit territory. Love it!
In the end, the additional forward dividend income from these raises exceeded my expectations as well. An unexpected raise and quality raise percentages will usually lead to such positive results.
My first raise of the month was my best when it came to raise percentage. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) announced an 11.7% dividend hike, providing $24.27 of additional forward dividend income. The raise fell short of last year’s 13.94% raise, but I certainly won’t complain about that. UNH has provided a double-digit raise every year since 2010… impressive!
Next up was FedEx (FDX), which came through with a very solid 9.52% raise. This was just barely lower than its previous dividend raise of 9.57% from April, 2023. Since this is one of my smaller positions, the impact to my forward dividend income was more muted… just a $6.93 bump.
Just one day later, Realty Income (O) provided its token quarterly raise. It was the usual half a penny hike, which translated to a 0.19% raise and a mere $0.64 of additional forward dividend income. This was the third O raise this year, increasing the total raise percentage for 2024 to 2.53%. With 2 more token raises most likely coming in the 2nd half of the year, I expect O’s annual raise to finish slightly over 2.9%. This would come in lower than the 3.22% total raise from 2023.
Another day later, I welcomed a dividend raise from Caterpillar (CAT). It was an 8.46% raise, topping the 8.33% boost from last year. CAT is one of the few stocks from my Portfolio to top their dividend raise from 2023. This year’s hike resulted in $20.53 of additional forward dividend income.
At this point, it wasn’t yet mid-month and I was thinking I’d seen my last dividend raise for June. However, I got a nice surprise from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) on the 28th. JPM announced a sweet 8.7% dividend hike… its 2nd raise of 2024. JPM provided a 9.52% raise back in March, too. Between the two hikes, JPM has now provided a total raise of 19.05% for 2024. This most recent dividend increase added $34.33 to my forward dividend income… my largest income increase of the month from any raise. In addition, this raise means all future JPM dividend payments (after July’s) will top $100… another triple-digit dividend to look forward to!
After accounting for all my June dividend raises, my additional forward dividend income rose by $86.91. This more than doubled last month’s income increase.
I’d have to invest $3,207.01 at my Portfolio’s current yield of 2.71% in order to receive the same boost to my forward dividend income as this month’s raises.
Looking ahead to July, I expect to have my worst month of the year in terms of the boost I see to my additional forward dividend income. I’m projecting to receive only 2 raises, from Cummins (CMI) and NNN REIT (NNN), which are two of my smallest positions. I might have normally included Hershey & Co. (HSY) in the July list, but HSY surprised with a nearly 15% raise back in February. I guess HSY could deliver again, but I won’t count on it. If I can at least get additional forward dividend income that reaches double-digits in July, I’ll be satisfied.
Dividends Due To New Investment
In June, I ended up making a total of 6 transactions. This was one more than last month, but about average for any given month.
I didn’t add any new stocks, or eliminate any existing ones. Instead, I just managed the holdings I already had.
There was a combination of buys and sells, but more buying (4) than selling (2), which is usually the case. However, one stock was involved in half of my total number of transactions.
Intrigued yet? If so, further details about each of these moves can be found in the following pair of posts…
Recent Transactions – AVGO & DOX
The set of transactions resulted in a net investment of $2,411.58 into my Portfolio. I also realized a long-term capital gain of $2,952.10 with my two sales.
My forward dividend income increased by $67.12 as a result. This is an effective yield of 2.78% for the net investment, which is just about on par with my Portfolio yield.
With no stocks leaving or entering my Portfolio during the transactions, the number of stocks in my Portfolio remained at 57.
Tallying Up The Additional Forward Dividend Income
In 2024, 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 2023 totals as well, so that we can compare as the year progresses.
It was a good month with regard to getting significant contributions from all three sources. Each source added more than $55 to a total $209.91 of additional forward dividend income. The June total was my 2nd best thus far in 2024.
For the 5th time in 6 months, Dividend Raises paced the contribution sources. Nearly $87 from raises is a good total, especially for one of my summer months. This amount was more than double last month’s effort in the same category, and it also topped the total from last June.
Investment of Capital was a somewhat surprising 2nd this month, contributing over $67 to my forward dividend income. Considering that this source was 3rd in each of the previous 5 months, a 2nd place finish in June was noteworthy. The total easily outpaced the total from last June, and the total from last month.
Even though Reinvested Dividends brought up the rear this month, its total of almost $56 was terrific. In fact, it was my best effort of the year in Reinvested Dividends. However, it did come up a bit shy of last year’s total, but that’s primarily due to my Broadcom (AVGO) dividend not being reinvested this time around.
What I liked most about this month was that the nearly $210 total keeps me on pace to top my best year ever for additional forward dividend income ($2,224.04 back in 2021). Hopefully, I can keep up this pace in the 2nd half of the year and achieve a new high.
Also, I’ve now reached triple-digits in additional forward dividend income for 11 straight months.
Progress Charts
The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.
I technically could have adjusted my Y-axis scale since I crossed the $2K threshold for dividends in June. However, it was so close you don’t really notice in the chart that I exceeded $2K. So, I decided to leave it be until it’s a noticeable cross.
On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.
Oh so close to $10K in the first half of the year. It seems like like $20K will be a foregone conclusion, but I’m not convinced yet. My current projection has me finishing around $19,575. However, maybe I can count on another $108 if Main Street Capital (MAIN) continues with their special dividends through the end of the year. Where will the remaining $317 come from? It will have to be some reinvested dividends, some 2nd half dividend raises, some new capital investment that leads to bigger payouts for any remaining dividend payments this year. Stay with me for the exciting finish to 2024.
Summary
An outstanding month of June had me cross $2K in dividend income for the first time ever. I love setting new records.
The total was a bit more than $2,002 in June. YoY dividend income growth came close to my 15% target, but fell a bit short at ~14.5%.
There were 22 dividend payers, including 8 triple-digit dividend payers. AVGO edged out QCOM as my largest dividend payer in June, exceeding $183. Only my MSFT dividend was less than $27. Thus, there were terrific dividend contributions from all my holdings, top to bottom.
Reinvested Dividends provided nearly $56 of additional forward dividend income, despite no reinvestment of my top dividend payer, AVGO.
I notched 5 Dividend Raises in June, one more than expected. A surprise increase from JPM arrived late in the month. It was the company’s 2nd hike in 2024. Of all my raises this month, only the token dividend raise from O failed to surpass an 8% increase. All the raises accounted for almost $87 of additional forward dividend income.
With the six Portfolio transactions I made in June, a net of more than $2.4K was invested. The transactions were comprised of 4 purchases and 2 sales, with one stock (AVGO) being involved three times. No stocks entered or exited my Portfolio in June. Over $67 of additional forward dividend income was secured through the transactions.
Tallying the contributions from all sources, I added almost $210 in additional forward dividend income to my Portfolio in June. This keeps me on pace to deliver a record annual total in 2024.
I’ve also collected nearly $9.9K in dividends in the 1st half of 2024, giving me a shot to hit $20K for the year.
There’s lots to be excited about in my dividend Portfolio!
Did you happen to tally record dividend income in June? If so, what was the record amount? How are your annual dividends shaping up at the halfway point of 2024? Please share in the Comments!
I have updated the Portfolio & Dividends pages in conjunction with this monthly update.