Well, I’m finally getting around to posting about March’s dividend income. It’s been a long month of catching up on my posting, but I’m back on track after this post.
The good news is that I have excellent info to share – record dividend income! I not only topped my record from last September, but shattered it by nearly $400. There’s an explanation that offers up the details, so stick around.
The dividend income from March allowed me to not dwell too much on the stock market and its recent declines. It helps to have something positive to focus on.
As you’ll see later in this report, my Portfolio is off to a terrific start in 2025. If I can keep the progress going, it should end up being a stellar year for pushing my dividend income forward.
Here’s a brief preview of what to expect in this month’s dividend income report…
Monthly dividend income surged in March, surpassing $2.4K! This blew by my former record and set the bar so high that it may take a year before I top that.
Year-over-Year (YoY) dividend growth was impressive as well. After a couple of 10% months to begin 2025, my Portfolio took YoY growth to a new level in March. I’ll share the percentage shortly.
I received a half dozen dividend raises in March. This was the same number as I had last month, too, but the forward dividend income was a little better this time around. I climbed into triple-digit territory for my forward dividend income this month. I love it! There was only one double-digit raise percentage though.
The number of Portfolio transactions in March was elevated as I re-configured my Portfolio a bit. I made 12 total moves involving 10 stocks/funds. There were buys and sells, with stocks leaving my Portfolio and some entering. Keep reading to get the details.
With regard to additional forward dividend income from my 3 sources (reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and investment of capital), all the sources delivered above-average totals in March. Two of the three sources provided triple-digit amounts… always a welcomed thing. Collectively, they nearly equaled my additional forward dividend income total from last month… just a dime short!
I’ve got updated progress charts to share with you as well. For the monthly chart I had to make a Y-axis adjustment to accommodate March’s dividend total. Awesome!
Let’s begin seeing all the dividend details for March 2025, starting off with my dividend income…
Dividend Income
It was record dividend income in March! My Portfolio raked in a whopping $2,409.18. This topped my previous record of $2,018.96 set last September. That’s a monster jump.
My YoY dividend growth blew well past my 15% growth target, by finishing at 34.41%. I can’t recall the last time YoY growth was so high.
So what led to the big jump? Well, last year my Pepsico (PEP) dividend slipped out of March and into April. In 2025, that PEP dividend returned to March. Thus, the timing of the PEP dividend (one of the bigger ones in my Portfolio), led to a big shift from one month to another. My March total was the beneficiary this time around, after suffering last year.
A total of 25 companies paid me a dividend in March. This number of payers could be a record as well. If it didn’t set a new record, it may be a tie. An amazing dozen of these payers (nearly half!) provided a triple-digit dividend for me. Even better, only 3 of those 25 dividends fell shy of $50. Plenty of big dividends were had in March!
My largest dividend of the month was nearly $200. It was Aflac (AFL) that came through with a dividend of $198.54. Both Qualcomm (QCOM) and T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) delivered dividends that topped $180 – $184.95 and $180.41, respectively.
My smallest dividend of the month came from Microsoft (MSFT). It was only $16.22, a little more than half the $29.46 offered up by Realty Income (O).
The increased dividend amounts from BlackRock (BLK), Enbridge (ENB), NextEra Energy (NEE), Visa (V), Hershey Co. (HSY) and Microsoft (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 AFL, topped $14 from QCOM, surpassed $11 from TROW, and exceeded more than $9 from both Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Main Street Capital (MAIN).
Of the March stocks that paid me both last year and this year, one of them had a payout reduction – Broadcom (AVGO). The reduction was due to a trim I executed earlier this year when the stock was looking very pricey.
As for new dividend payers this March, there was a large number of them – five. The first one, PEP, I mentioned was due to the timing of the dividend this year compared to last. Chevron (CVX) debuted this March with a healthy $111.59 dividend after I initiated my position last September, and added to it in February. Next up are a pair of closed-end funds that I bought in the past 6 months. DNP Select Income Fund (DNP) provided a $65.68 distribution, while BlackRock Health Sciences Trust (BME) sent me a $52.42 payment. Lastly, there was Flowers Foods (FLO), debuting with a $50.40 dividend.
Only one stock no longer paid me a dividend this March – Whirlpool (WHR). I eliminated WHR from my Portfolio last May due to a deteriorating business climate and declining dividend safety. I parted ways with its $27.66 dividend.
Nearly all my dividends got automatically reinvested into the stocks that paid them. The exceptions were… 1) there was only a partial dividend reinvestment of Enbridge (ENB) due to a portion of the dividend being withheld for foreign tax purposes, and 2) there was no dividend reinvestment of Pinnacle West Capital (PNW) as the dividend was paid after I sold my position, and 3) there was no dividend reinvestment of BlackRock (BLK) as my broker turns off the DRiP for stocks with high share prices. The result of all the dividend reinvestment that did take place was an additional $77.45 of forward dividend income. This was my largest ever forward dividend income bump due to reinvested dividends. The addition of the two closed-end funds to my Portfolio provided a boost, but I believe declining stock prices were a significant factor as well.
The reinvestment of the TROW dividend accounted for better than $9 of the forward dividend income total. The PEP and ENB reinvestments each added exactly $6. Meanwhile, MAIN and DNP accounted for better than $5. There were four other companies providing north of $4, too. The contributions were plentiful.
As a result of March’s reinvested dividends, I dripped over 28 new shares of stock. DNP accounted for nearly 7 shares on its own in March. ENB and FLO each dripped over 2 shares, with another eight companies surpassing more than 1 share each.
Dividend Raises
My Portfolio racked up 6 dividend raises in March. Make it back-to-back months for this. I was expecting fewer raise announcements, but got one nice surprise, which I’ll tell you about soon.
The surprise raise was my biggest of the month from both a raise percentage and the boost to my forward dividend income. It also allowed me to crack triple-digits for forward dividend income due to raises for the month.
Most of my raises came in around 5%. For my largest dividend payers this resulted in some decent forward dividend income.
My first dividend raise of the month was delivered by General Dynamics (GD). It was a 5.63% hike. This fell short of the 7.58% raise provided last year. Forward dividend income advanced by $9.88 due to this raise.
A couple days later, I received a 4.94% boost from American Tower (AMT). This essentially reversed the cut that AMT delivered in March of last year. This raise added $6.78 to my forward dividend income.
Up next was my token quarterly dividend raise from Realty Income. It was the usual 0.19% hike. Forward dividend income rose a scant $0.66. This was the 2nd dividend raise of the year from O, with the total raise percentage for the year rising to 1.70%.
Shortly after the middle of the month, I received word of a 4.71% raise from QCOM. Sadly, this couldn’t match the 6.25% hike that QCOM delivered last year. Since QCOM is one of my largest dividend payers, even this modest raise resulted in a healthy $35.01 bump in my forward dividend income.
On the same day, I got my surprise dividend raise of the month. I wasn’t expecting it at all. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) announced a 12.00% hike to its dividend. It was a surprise since JPM last hiked its dividend in June of last year, and that was the schedule I was working on. JPM offered up two raises in 2024 totaling 19.05%. So, while this 12% boost didn’t exceed that level, I’m not going to complain about a double-digit hike. The boost to my forward dividend income from this raise was a very solid $52.61.
I finished off my raises for March was a modest raise from one of my newest holdings, Salesforce (CRM). CRM raised its dividend 5.00%. To be honest, I was expecting more. With CRM being a smaller holding with a low yield, this raise only increased my forward dividend income by a minor $1.20.
After accounting for all my March dividend raises, my forward dividend income jumped by triple-digits, finishing at $106.14. JPM nearly accounted for half that amount by itself. QCOM provided a significant chunk as well.
I’d have to invest $3,831.77 at my Portfolio’s month-end yield of 2.77% in order to receive the same boost to my forward dividend income as this month’s raises.
Looking ahead to April, I expect to see my number of dividend raises get cut in half compared to March. That means there are only 3 dividend raises anticipated. I expect to hear from Procter & Gamble (PG), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Alphabet (GOOG). I’ll be happy if I can add $60 to my forward dividend income with the 3 raises.
Dividends Due To New Investment
March turned out to be rather busy for transactions in my Portfolio. I made a total of 12 transactions, involving 10 different stocks/funds. The moves were comprised of 9 buys and 3 sells. Two stocks were eliminated from my Portfolio (both in the Healthcare sector), and 3 new positions were established (2 stocks and 1 fund). All that qualified as busy.
I started with small additions to a pair of my smaller positions – FedEx (FDX) & Microsoft (MSFT).
I then sold some Hershey Co. (HSY) shares and shortly bought them back, reducing my cost basis in the process.
After a few years of minimal progress with CVS Health (CVS) I exited the position, but invested in a new one – Alphabet (GOOG).
I kept going with my Healthcare elimination by purging Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) from my Portfolio, too.
However, I kept a good deal of my investment in the sector by buying my 2nd closed-end fund for my Portfolio – BlackRock Health Sciences Trust (BME).
Of course, adding to my Information Technology sector is always of interest to me, and I initiated a position in Salesforce (CRM) after its price came down to a reasonable level for me.
I wrapped up the month as I started it, by making small additions to another pair of my smaller positions – this time Accenture (ACN) and The Walt Disney Co. (DIS).
Details for all these transactions can be found in this quartet of posts…
Recent Transactions – HSY, CVS, GOOG
Recent Transactions – BMY, BME, CRM
My transactions resulted in a net investment of $3,458.55 into my Portfolio. My forward dividend income rose by $101.30, too, for an effective yield of 2.93% overall.
With two stocks being eliminated from my Portfolio, but three stocks/funds being added, the number of stocks/funds in my Portfolio climbed by one to 59.
Tallying Up The Additional Forward Dividend Income
In 2025, 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 2024 totals as well, so that we can compare as the year progresses.
I posted strong results in the first quarter of 2025. The momentum I had after the first two months of 2025 carried throughout March, too.
Accounting for all the sources, I added $284.89 of additional forward dividend income in March. This was just a dime short of what I tallied last month, and it more than doubled the total I was able to tally in March of last year.
I had wonderful contributions from all my sources, with two of the three sources adding triple-digit amounts.
Dividend Raises squeaked out the title of my best March contributor, providing $106.14. This topped the total from Dividend Raises last month, as well as the amount from the same month last year.
Investment of Capital reached a triple-digit amount as well, finishing at $101.30. This amount fell shy of the capital investment contribution last month, but crushed the total from last year, which was a measly $0.
Reinvested Dividends posted its best month ever, totaling $77.45 this month. This was more than $20 higher than last month, and better than $25 more than the total from March, 2024.
After 3 months, Reinvested Dividends and Investment of Capital are outpacing their quarterly totals from last year, but Dividend Raises are a little off pace. However, as a whole, the three sources are rolling, posting additional forward dividend income of $961.19. I’m well on my way to eclipsing my record total of $2,441.98 that was set in 2024.
Progress Charts
The following are progress charts, also available on my Dividends page.
I had to adjust my Y-axis scale this month to accommodate the record March dividend total (more than $2.4K). Outstanding!
On an annual basis, here’s what the dividend totals look like.
It only took 3 months in 2025 to exceed my entire dividend total from 2016 (with $580 to spare). The snowball is in effect.
Summary
My Portfolio established a new record dividend total for a single month this March. The old record of $2,018.96 (from Sept. 2024) was easily surpassed, and a new record total of $2,409.18 was notched. The timing of my PEP dividend this year helped my March dividend total, but next month’s dividend total is going to suffer as a result.
YoY dividend income growth was off-the-hook as well, finishing with a percentage gain of 34.41%. So much for failing to reach my 15% YoY growth target this time around.
A total of 25 dividend payments were delivered to me in March. A staggering 12 of those were triple-digit dividend payments, with a small group approaching $200, led by AFL ($198.54).
More than $77 in additional forward dividend income was generated by Reinvested Dividends in March. If the stock market remains depressed this year, I suspect I might be able to surpass $70 from this source every month.
There were 6 Dividend Raises that I received in March – the same number as in February. The surprise raise from JPM led the way from both a raise percentage perspective, and a forward dividend income boost perspective. Only JPM provided a double-digit raise. Most of the others fell around 5%, with the token O raise only coming in at 0.19%. It total, all my raises boosted my forward dividend income by a little more than $106.
Portfolio transactions were plentiful in March, almost totaling the same amount as in January and February combined. I executed 12 transactions, consisting of 9 buys and 3 sells. There were two stocks eliminated from my Portfolio (CVS & BMY), as well as 3 new stocks/funds added (GOOG, BME, CRM). I closed out March with a net investment of nearly $3.5K. My forward dividend income rose by a bit more than $101 due to the Portfolio transactions.
Tallying the contributions from all sources, nearly $285 of forward dividend income was added to my Portfolio in March. I’m well ahead of last year’s pace for additional forward dividend income. Maybe 2025 will be another record year.
Were you able to notch record dividend income in March? Did any of your dividend raises arrive unexpectedly like the JPM one did for me? Please share in the Comments!
I have updated the Portfolio & Dividends pages in conjunction with this monthly update.