These late spring, early summer months go by way too fast! We have now passed the midway point of the year as well as the recent summer solstice. Without further ado, I'll get into this past months dividend income summary. Anyone who tracks there dividend income activity throughout the year knows well that the month of June is one of the big 4 months when it comes to dividends and this is no exception for my portfolio. As I mentioned last month, I fully expected to hit the 4 digit mark in June, which I did. However, my dividend income for June 2018 was -1.5% lower than this same period last year - wait what!? Yep, that's right, lower - but there is a reason for it and I'll explain below.
As you can see from the summary above dividend income for June 2018 amounted to $1,173 compared to the $1,190 I received in the same period last year, a -1.5% decrease. Now, a quick peruse down the list of stocks and one will immediately identify the culprit - National Grid PLC (NGG). In June 2017, NGG issued a rather large special dividend of $6.01 per 1 ADR, which favorably impacted my dividend summary by $216 last year and thus, this year's comparison was unfavorably impacted due to the anomaly in 2017. Now, if I were to adjust last years income summary for the NGG special dividend and declare an adjusted June 2017 dividend balance of $974 and then compare is to June 2018 dividend balance of $1,173, the YoY change would be a favorable 20.4% (6.6% and 13.8% attributed to rate and volume, respectively) - now that is what I like to see!
Other notable year over year changes in the dividend income presented above are the two individual stock positions in JM Smucker (SJM) and Kraft Heinz (KHC). I would like to double my current position in KHC but have been waiting for the price to retreat back below $60. The other notable change is my position in the Vanguard Equity Income (VEIPX) mutal fund that is held in a Roth IRA. Earlier this year I liquidated the balance we had invested in Dodge & Cox International Fund (DODFX) and invested the proceeds in VEIPX. Our mutual funds positions are the only holdings we have that automatically reinvest the dividends back into the holdings from which they came. There is only one position listed above that I have eliminated from the portfolio, Compass Minerals (CMP). Management decided to freeze the dividend payment this past year. This news along with that fact that CMP can only do so much to determine its own earnings fate year to year as earnings are driven by weather patterns each year and the corresponding demand for deicing salt needed to clear roadways), I decided to rid my self of the the small position not too long ago as I noted here. It is rare that I find companies classified "basic materials" as worthwhile investments for the long term and hence my relatively low sector allocation seen below.
Year-to-date (YTD) dividend balance for 2018 now amounts to $3,367 thru June compared to $2,314 for the same period last year - a favorable change of 45.5%!
Looking head to next month, I am expecting to receive dividends from 11 different positions as of this writing compared to just the 7 position I received dividends from in July of 2017 and the YoY increase is expected to follow similar trends that we've seen the first half of 2018.
As of mid-year, portfolio holdings are valued at $250,294 (net of any cash balances) spread across the following sectors as seen below. This summary includes my mutual fund positions, the data for which has been obtained from from Morningstar. As a point of clarification, I do not have any specific allocation to which I use as a benchmark, nor does the sector classification play any material part in my individual investment purchases. Nonetheless, I would anticipate that companies that fall under the broad classifications of Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary, Industrials and Information Technology will make up the bulk of my portfolio over the long term.
Lastly, here is also a summary of where the major indexes are trading in their respective yields.
As you can see from the summary above dividend income for June 2018 amounted to $1,173 compared to the $1,190 I received in the same period last year, a -1.5% decrease. Now, a quick peruse down the list of stocks and one will immediately identify the culprit - National Grid PLC (NGG). In June 2017, NGG issued a rather large special dividend of $6.01 per 1 ADR, which favorably impacted my dividend summary by $216 last year and thus, this year's comparison was unfavorably impacted due to the anomaly in 2017. Now, if I were to adjust last years income summary for the NGG special dividend and declare an adjusted June 2017 dividend balance of $974 and then compare is to June 2018 dividend balance of $1,173, the YoY change would be a favorable 20.4% (6.6% and 13.8% attributed to rate and volume, respectively) - now that is what I like to see!
Other notable year over year changes in the dividend income presented above are the two individual stock positions in JM Smucker (SJM) and Kraft Heinz (KHC). I would like to double my current position in KHC but have been waiting for the price to retreat back below $60. The other notable change is my position in the Vanguard Equity Income (VEIPX) mutal fund that is held in a Roth IRA. Earlier this year I liquidated the balance we had invested in Dodge & Cox International Fund (DODFX) and invested the proceeds in VEIPX. Our mutual funds positions are the only holdings we have that automatically reinvest the dividends back into the holdings from which they came. There is only one position listed above that I have eliminated from the portfolio, Compass Minerals (CMP). Management decided to freeze the dividend payment this past year. This news along with that fact that CMP can only do so much to determine its own earnings fate year to year as earnings are driven by weather patterns each year and the corresponding demand for deicing salt needed to clear roadways), I decided to rid my self of the the small position not too long ago as I noted here. It is rare that I find companies classified "basic materials" as worthwhile investments for the long term and hence my relatively low sector allocation seen below.
Year-to-date (YTD) dividend balance for 2018 now amounts to $3,367 thru June compared to $2,314 for the same period last year - a favorable change of 45.5%!
Looking head to next month, I am expecting to receive dividends from 11 different positions as of this writing compared to just the 7 position I received dividends from in July of 2017 and the YoY increase is expected to follow similar trends that we've seen the first half of 2018.
As of mid-year, portfolio holdings are valued at $250,294 (net of any cash balances) spread across the following sectors as seen below. This summary includes my mutual fund positions, the data for which has been obtained from from Morningstar. As a point of clarification, I do not have any specific allocation to which I use as a benchmark, nor does the sector classification play any material part in my individual investment purchases. Nonetheless, I would anticipate that companies that fall under the broad classifications of Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary, Industrials and Information Technology will make up the bulk of my portfolio over the long term.
Lastly, here is also a summary of where the major indexes are trading in their respective yields.
Great breakdown of your portfolio. I need to make a chart showing my allocation in each sector. I know I'm overweight in REITS, Consumer Staples, Telecoms, and Healthcare.
ReplyDeleteMoney Hungry,
DeleteYou of course know you are not alone among the dividend investment community affection for REITs and the other sectors you've mentioned. There are at least a handful or more of great companies to be found within each of those sectors that help us compound our annual dividend income. I have my eye a few REITs that would like to purchase when the valuation is right, hopefully in the not too distant future. Best of luck!