The calendar has turned to November, but I still have a pair of transactions to report on from October. So, I’m sharing now, before I’m even more delinquent.
My Portfolio transactions consisted of a couple of buys… one in the Information Technology sector, and the other in the Communication Services sector.
One of the buys was a minor addition to an existing Portfolio position, while the other was a large purchase that established a new Portfolio position.
After accounting for both moves, it was a sizable investment into my Portfolio, but which provided only a small increase to my forward dividend income due to the low yield of the stock that received the majority of the investment.
Let’s check out the details of my latest Portfolio moves…
Texas Instruments (TXN)
TXN has tumbled over 20% in price over the past two months. While its P/E ratio is still above its 5-year average (and above that of the S&P 500 tech sector), its yield is now well above its 5-year average. This doesn’t scream buy, but it does allow me to add to my position while the stock is more favorably valued than it has historically been.
After a couple of large negative earnings years, paying the dividend is eating up nearly all the earnings (payout ratio near 100%). However, 2025 may turn out to be when the company starts growing again. Analysts have earnings accelerating over the coming two years as well.
I’ve always liked TXN in my Portfolio, and with the opportunity to add some Information Technology shares to my Portfolio (where I’m underweight) at a ‘reduced’ price, I decided to add just a bit. The last time I bought any shares of TXN was two years ago.
On 10/29/25, I bought 2 shares of TXN at $159.92/share, for a total of $319.84. The stock yielded 3.55% at my purchase price, which is 0.90 percentage points above my current Portfolio yield of 2.65%.
My TXN share total increased by 3.17%. I now own 65.171 shares. My forward dividend climbed higher by $11.36.
My cost basis in TXN did rise a little. It climbed by $1.38/share, to $116.34/share.
Despite the investment in TXN, the stock actually slipped in my investment rankings (from 30th to 31st) since the stock was down a lot on the day of my purchase. TXN slightly trails Chevron (CVX) in my rankings now, but has a comfortable lead on Skyworks Solutions (SWKS).
I’ll look to add more TXN should it decline further, perhaps below $150.
Meta Platforms (META)
Similar to my Alphabet (GOOG) purchase earlier this year, here’s another company that doesn’t need much of an introduction. Although META was founded just 21 years ago in 2004, it’s already grown into more than a $1.5 trillion entity. At the time, the company was known as Facebook. However, it’s since grown to add Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services to its current Family of Apps segment, while also creating and enhancing its Reality Labs segment which includes augmented, mixed and virtual reality related consumer hardware, software, and content.
META is basically a Tech player, even though it resides in the Communication Services sector.
Recently, META took a big step down in price with the release of its latest quarterly earnings. A huge one-time tax charge dented earnings, increased AI spending became worrisome, and ongoing losses in the Reality Labs segment spooked investors. This news dropped the price enough to have me initiate a position in META, which added more growth into my stable of holdings.
Currently, META has a sub-0.35% yield, but I certainly expect that to grow over time. With META, I’m conceding a low yield for what should be double-digit dividend growth in the years to come.
On 10/31/25, I initiated my META position by purchasing 10 shares at $655/share, for a total of $6,550. The stock yielded 0.32% at my purchase price. This yield is more than 2 percentage points lower than my current Portfolio yield.
Despite this big META purchase, my Portfolio remains slightly underweight in Communication Services.
The purchase only added a small $21 to my annual forward dividend income. My first META dividend will arrive in December.
META entered my Portfolio with a weighting above my minimum 0.5% threshold. That remains the case even though the stock has fallen in price since my buy. I wish to have its weighting above 1% eventually and I anticipate getting there via additional purchases over time and expected capital appreciation.
The stock entered my Portfolio as the 11th smallest position (avoiding the bottom 10!). It sits behind Amdocs Ltd. (DOX) in my Portfolio rankings, but is ahead Comcast (CMCSA).
At this point, with a new holding, I’d normally take a quick look at its dividend growth history dating back to 2000.
However, the dividend history for META only began last year, and its first ever dividend payment came in March, 2024. Its lone dividend raise (5%) arrived this past March. Thus, I didn’t feel the need to share a table with minimal entries.
META’s current earnings payout ratio is below 10%, with its free cash flow payout ratio only slightly higher. Raising the dividend over the years to come shouldn’t be a problem.
Simply Safe Dividends started META with a ‘Safe’ dividend safety score (70 out of 99).
While META only hiked its dividend 5% with its first-ever dividend raise, I expect META to raise its dividend annually at a stronger clip. Hopefully, it’s north of 10%.
Summary
After having no Portfolio activity in October, I broke the trend and executed a couple of buys in the last days of the month.
The first purchase involved an existing holding, TXN. I added just a pair of shares, taking advantage of a recent dip in the stock price.
I then established a META position, adding some growth to my Portfolio in the process. The buy also helped bring my Communication Services weighting closer to my preferred weighting range. A price dip in this stock was significant enough to have me pull the trigger on adding this stock to my Portfolio.
The two buys resulted in a fairly significant investment of $6,869.84 into my Portfolio, with nearly all of that going into META. My forward dividend income rose by $32.36 with the two purchases.
Since META was a new holding for my Portfolio, the number of holdings in my Portfolio rose by one to 59.
What stocks have you added to your Portfolio recently? How do current stock prices look to you? Are you seeing value in any sectors? I look forward to your comments!
Hi Engineer,
First, I wanted to thank you for all the information and knowledge you share here,I really appreciate the clarity and depth you bring to your posts.
Could you please explain the reasoning behind the recent META purchase?
On one hand, I see your portfolio moving toward higher and more predictable income sources, like DNP and similar holdings.
On the other hand, META currently provides very little income, and there isn’t much historical evidence that dividend growth is a key focus for them.
Thanks again, I really enjoy your blog and the way you present both the numbers and the insights behind them.
Welcome, Luisito.
My decision to buy META was primarily to add a growth element to my Portfolio. Most of my holdings are value stocks. META is also a Communication Services stock, a sector where I’m underweight.
Some of the stocks I’ve sold this year had relatively high yields, often because of poor performance.
While reinvesting the sales proceeds, I’ve kept my Portfolio yield up by coupling my low-yield growth investments (META, GOOG, INTU, CRM) with the closed-end fund purchases (DNP, BME, PCN).
The CEF buys come at the expense of potential capital appreciation and dividend growth, but the growth investments help offset that.
While META only showed an average dividend hike with its first dividend raise, I expect raises to rise (to around 10%) as growth slows in the years to come. This would compete with other MegaCap dividend payers such as MSFT.