After setting a monthly dividend income record last month, my dividend tally for October cooled off some. However, it was still solid.
Of course, there were zero surprises with respect to this dividend income, as the monthly income amount tends to be ultra predictable. Yet, there could always be an unexpected dividend cut or even a supplemental dividend to alter the expected total.
This month, however, I had no such surprises. Dividend income came in right where I expected it would. So, how much dividend income did I realize for my Portfolio in October?
Well, let’s get a quick preview of this and some of the other numbers from this month’s dividend report…
I had my 2nd lowest dividend month of 2024 in October, only beating the total from July. Still, income topped $1.4K, but how high above that mark did I get?
Year-over-Year (YoY) dividend growth failed to reach my 15% target once again. Was I even close? That answer is coming.
My number of dividend raises fell compared to last month, but those raises I did receive in October delivered more forward dividend income than last month. I’ll share the totals shortly.
My Portfolio transactions were limited again this month… just one small purchase. I added to an existing holding, with a minor bump to my forward dividend income.
When it comes to additional forward dividend income from all my sources (reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and investment of capital), I had a good month, topping $200 again. I exceeded the average amount I need per month for this last quarter of 2024 in order to reach a new annual record for additional forward dividend income. How good was my month? Keep reading to find out.
Of course, there will be updated dividend progress charts I’ll share near the end of this post, both monthly and annual. Be sure to check those out.
So let’s get to the dividend details for October, 2024. As usual, I’ll start things off with dividend income…
Dividend Income
Every month in 2024, dividend income has exceeded $1.4K, and that didn’t change this October. My Portfolio collected $1,447.25 in dividends this month. While this was far from the $2K+ dividend record I set just last month, the total provides a nice monthly floor for my dividend income.
YoY growth faded compared to last month and came in at 11.66%. I’m happy to see I stayed in double-digit territory with the growth percentage, but I really wasn’t close to reaching my YoY monthly target of 15%. Maybe next month! However, I’ve been saying that since April (the last time I exceeded 15%).
A total of 22 companies paid me a dividend in October. Unfortunately, only 4 of those 22 dividend payments were of the triple-digit variety. Still, 14 of the 22 stocks provided at least $50 and all but one stock provided at least $20. The one stock that fell short of $20 was only a nickel short.
My top payer was Altria Group (MO) at $153.11. RPM International (RPM) wasn’t too far behind with its $133.06 dividend. My smallest dividend was $19.95 from McCormick & Co. (MKC). Just barely ahead of that was the $20.02 from FedEx (FDX).
The increased dividend amounts from UGI Corp. (UGI), OGE Energy (OGE), VICI Properties (VICI), Nike (NKE), Medtronic (MDT), Amdocs Ltd. (DOX), American Tower (AMT) and MKC 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 $19 in YoY dividend gains from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) due to a pair of dividend increases this past year. I also added another $15 in YoY dividend gains from RPM, in excess of $12 from MO and north of $10 from Automatic Data Processing (ADP). Throw in better than $9 in dividend gains from JPM, more than $8 from Illinois Tool Works (ITW), and in excess of $7 from Merck & Co. (MRK) and it was no doubt a good month.
Of the stocks that paid me in both October of last year and this year, not one stock posted a payout reduction. That’s back-to-back months for this.
As for new October dividend payers, there were none. I’ll have to figure out how to add more help for the first month of the quarter.
With regard to stocks that no longer pay me a dividend this October, there is just one: Best Buy (BBY). I sold out of BBY earlier this year, as dividend growth and safety was waning. I was also unsure if earnings growth would pick up anytime soon. Margins are below where I want to see them, too. However, BBY has performed well from a stock price perspective since I sold, so it appears I should have held on longer. The sale of BBY resulted in $47.62 in lost dividend income. It’s not fun to try and make that up.
The majority of my dividends got automatically reinvested into the stocks that paid them. However, I didn’t reinvest my MO dividend by choice, as I’m not looking for the position to grow. Also, Medtronic (MDT) was only partially reinvested since a portion of the dividend was withheld by my broker for tax purposes.
With regard to the reinvestment that did take place, it added $38.43 of additional forward dividend income to my Portfolio. UGI Corp. (UGI) added more than $4 to this month’s additional forward dividend income total, while VICI Properties (VICI) provided $3 more. Seven other stocks contributed north of $2 as well. It was sad to come in under $40 this month, but not reinvesting my largest dividend of the month (MO) didn’t help.
As a result of reinvested dividends in October, I dripped over 16 new shares of stock. This included over 2 new shares of UGI, better than 1.5 new shares of VICI, Comcast (CMCSA) and OGE Energy (OGE), and over 1 new share of RPM.
Dividend Raises
I saw a slight pullback in the number of dividend raises in October compared to last month, but they were more potent with regard to additional forward dividend income.
Six dividend raises came my way in October. Two arrived early in the month, while the remaining four showed up late in the month.
There were two raises that had double-digit percentages. Also, two of the raises competed nicely for providing the most additional forward dividend income.
My first raise of the month was announced just two days into the month. It was Lockheed Martin (LMT) providing a 4.76% hike which added $9.26 to my forward dividend income. The raise fell short of the 5% one from last year. This seems to be the trend in 2024… raise percentages this year coming up short of the ones provided last year.
The next day, a 10.87% dividend boost from RPM was announced. This was my 2nd largest raise percentage of the month, and it translated into $52.18 of additional forward dividend income… just shy of the most for the month. It’s always nice getting a double-digit raise from one of your largest dividend payers. Bucking the trend I just spoke of, RPM’s dividend raise managed to best the 9.52% one it provided in 2023.
It was nearly 3 weeks before I had another dividend raise arrive in my Portfolio. But, eventually Starbucks (SBUX) put an end to the wait. Given the recent struggles of SBUX, I was happy to receive a 7.02% raise from the company. Sure, this fell short of the 7.55% hike provided last year, but $24.53 of additional forward dividend income put a smile on my face.
Next up was my smallest raise of the month in percentage terms. Pinnacle West Capital (PNW) delivered a 1.70% raise. This didn’t quite meet the 1.73% raise from the year prior. The raise only added $4.03 of additional forward dividend income. I’d like to see larger raises from PNW but regulators have a lid on what the company can do.
My best raise of the month was a 13.46% boost from Visa (V). This is right on par with the company’s 10-yr dividend growth rate average. Sure this didn’t quite meet the 15.56% raise V provided last year, but I’m not complaining. The raise resulted in $26.88 of additional forward dividend income.
The last raise of the month was a modest 5.81% increase from AbbVie (ABBV). However, since ABBV is my largest dividend payer, the raise provided a healthy additional forward dividend income total of $52.48. This was another raise that bucked this year’s trend of a lower raise percentage, as it outdid the 4.73% hike from last year.
After accounting for all of my October dividend raises, my additional forward dividend income rose by a whopping $169.36. Now that’s what I’m talking about! More of this please.
I’d have to invest $6,589.88 at my Portfolio’s current yield of 2.57% in order to receive the same boost to my forward dividend income as this month’s raises. Think about that for a moment.
Looking ahead to November, I’m expecting perhaps an extra raise or two relative to October… so maybe 7 or 8 of them. The additional forward dividend income should be solid, too. I expect to hear from Main Street Capital (MAIN), Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Aflac (AFL), Nike (NKE), Merck & Co. (MRK), Enbridge (ENB), McCormick & Co.(MKC), and possibly The Walt Disney Co. (DIS). Since I’m posting my October report so late, three of these expected announcements have already occurred, but I’ll save those details for next month.
Dividends Due To New Investment
Make it 3 months in a row for limited transaction activity in my Portfolio. Elevated stocks prices will tend to limit purchases. Maybe things will pick up next month since stock prices seem to be pulling back after the post-election uptick.
In October, there was only a single transaction… a buy.
I added to an existing Portfolio position this time… a stock in the Consumer Staples sector. Stocks in this sector haven’t been performing too well lately.
Details about my new purchase are available in the following post…
The buy resulted in an investment of $551.85 into my Portfolio. At the time of my purchase, HSY had a yield of 2.98%, so I added $16.44 of additional forward dividend income from the transaction.
Since HSY was already an existing Portfolio position, the number of stocks in my Portfolio remained at 58.
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.
I posted another good month of additional forward dividend income in October. I cracked the $200 mark for the 2nd month in a row, notching my 3rd best month of 2024.
Once again, Dividend Raises paced my contributors ($169.36), and it wasn’t even close. It’s only been twice in ten months that Dividend Raises hasn’t led the way.
Sadly, I had my lowest total from Reinvested Dividends all year ($38.43). Months of climbing stock prices has dented the impact this source is having for my Portfolio.
Bringing up the rear was Investment of Capital ($16.44). Just a single stock purchase of small value during the month wasn’t enough to move the needle in this category.
On a bright note, when I total all three contribution sources for the month, the additional forward dividend income total of $224.23 not only crossed my $200 target, but it came close to doubling the total from last October ($117.33).
I’m ahead of last year’s pace for the amount of additional forward dividend income I generate for the year. Also, thanks to October’s total, the average monthly amount I need over the next 2 months to top my best-ever total of $2,224.04 achieved back in 2021 came down just a bit… to $203.39/month. I’m feeling fairly confident I’ll set a new standard for additional forward dividend income in 2024.
Progress Charts
The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.
Another good showing in October. The YoY progress is evident from the chart. With October bringing more than $1.4K, every month this year will most likely top that level.
On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.
I think I’m going to come up shy of $20K in dividends for the year. I’ve been behind pace most of the year. Still, in 10 months of 2024, I’ve already exceeded the dividend total from all of 2022 by more than $1K!
Summary
A slow down was noted this month compared to the record income I had in September. However, I still collected over $1,447 in dividend income for October. YoY dividend income growth continued to fade a bit, coming in at 11.66% for the month.
A glorious 22 companies paid me a dividend in October. Only 4 of them came through with a triple-digit dividend, but close to two-thirds of them topped $50. MO delivered the most dividend income in October ($153.11), while MKC provided the least ($19.95).
Reinvested Dividends led to more than $38 of additional forward dividend income. Unfortunately, this was my lowest monthly total for 2024 from this source.
Dividend Raises continue to boost my forward dividend income. I notched 6 Dividend Raises in October. Two companies (V & RPM) provided double-digit hikes, while the forward dividend income from two raises exceeded $50 (ABBV & RPM). My forward dividend income from all raises topped $169.
For the 3rd straight month, I only made a single Portfolio transaction. This time, I stayed inside my Portfolio and found a stock position I wanted to grow. I bought 3 shares of Hershey Co. (HSY). The investment was just under $552. The yield at the time of purchase was just under 3%, and the purchase resulted in the addition of a little more than $16 of forward dividend income from Investment of Capital.
Tallying the contributions from all sources, I added more than $224 of forward dividend income to my Portfolio in October. This was my 3rd best monthly total for 2024, and it kept me on pace to establish a new annual record for additional forward dividend income.
What was most eventful inside your Portfolio in October? A monster dividend payment, record dividend income, lots of raises? Perhaps a dividend cut? Please share in the Comments!
I have updated the Portfolio & Dividends pages in conjunction with this monthly update.