Recent Buy - Bayer AG (BAYRY)

Part of my routine each morning is to open the Yahoo! Finance application on my phone and see what the market is up to.  On Tuesday morning, it was clear heading into the market open that the market would open in negative territory based on where the DOW futures where trading leading into the open.  One stock on my watch list stood out like a sore thumb and it is a current holding of mine, namely, Bayer AG.  Within the first few hours the stock had fallen > 8.5% which brought it back down to similar levels as when I first picked up shares not too long ago.  As the week progressed, the valuation continue to decline with the rest of the market and I continued to buy.  See below for the details on this most recent purchases.

Recent Buy - Delta Air Lines (DAL)

I realized things got interesting Wednesday afternoon when I checked in on the markets and saw that they were in midst of a precipitous decline for the day.  I keep a lengthy list of stocks on my watch list and whether the markets panic for one day or weeks on end, I have always made sure to have a pile of cash handy to take advantage of perceived price discrepancies.  From this watch list, I always have an even shorter list of stocks that are presently in or are nearing a valuation range where I would be willing to initiate a new position (or add to an existing position) should the right price present itself.  I think this is a pretty typical characteristic of any self directed long term investor.  Well, on Wednesday, the stock I decided to pull the trigger on was DAL.  The stock has retreated back to the low $50s and I have decided the value offered for the price provides and adequate margin of safety.  See below for the details of the purchase, some metrics, and additional commentary.

Recent Buy - J.M. Smucker Co (SJM)

Recently made my first purchase for this month.  I've had a handful of companies on my shortlist of potentials buys and most of them are companies I have a current position in, such as J.M. Smucker.  This company is back down near their 52 week lows and the industry as a whole is out of favor with Wall Street.  SJM along with GIS have made some acquisitions recently to spur some growth and questions remain surrounding the price paid versus value received. See below for the details of the purchase along with some additional notes regarding valuation and purchase.

2018 September Dividend Summary

The third quarter of the calendar year is now in the books and companies will soon begin to report the latest quarter of earnings.  As many well know, September is one of the big 4 months of the year that tends to tally a large sum of dividend receipts and there is no exception with my experience.  See below for the monthly along with the YoY variance allocation between rate and volume - netting an increase of 34.6% increase in dividends.

Recent Buy - Bayer AG (BAYRY)

I've had Bayer (BAYRY) on a watch list I have listing many companies that I would consider owning at reasonable valuations.  Those who follow the markets will know that Bayer has captured some headlines in recent years.  First, the company announced some time back that it would be acquiring Monsanto and the $63 billion transaction was completed in recently weeks.  However, just before the transaction was closed, the company found itself in the headlines again as result of California court awarding a plaintiff $289 million who had sued Monsanto, claiming that the company's herbicide had helped cause the plaintiff's cancer.  What's more, Bayer recently revised its guidance for 2018 downward by about (~7%), which results in a forward P/E multiple of 12.7 (resulting in an earnings yield of 7.87%).  With all this relatively bad news, one may think "what the heck are you doing investing your precious capital in this company?".  Well, in short, I think the long terms benefits greatly outweigh the near term risks.  I'll have additional commentary below, but before I get there, let's take a look at some of the basic metrics I typically review in consideration of a stock purchase.

2018 August Dividend Summary

Although summer is not quite officially over, the month of August is and that leaves us with four month to go to close out the remainder of the year.  With just eight months of dividend income in 2018, I have reaped 48% more in dividend income YTD than what I received by this same point last year in 2017.  Take a look below and view the results for August 2018.

Recent Buy - Kraft Heinz Co (KHC)

Earlier this week I added to my KHC position, nearly doubling its size.  I initially bought 50 shares back in April and have wanted to further grow the size of this position but have been patiently waiting for the price to retreat below $60.  Shortly after their earnings release, I thought that my opportunity might not come again as speculation arose that KHC might be a potential suiter for an acquisition of Campbell's Soup Co (CPB), which I also happen to own.  This speculation combined with the KHC beating analysts' expectations for Q2 earnings led to a one day jump in price, amounting to an +9% increase in stock price on August 3rd.  However, as the past few weeks have shown, this valuation jump did not last.  Details on the purchase along with the updated valuation metrics can be seen below. 

2018 July Dividend Summary

July is in the books and the month of August is just flying right by.  Of course, the fact that my wife and I took the kids on a camping trip down to California last week to camp with my wife's side of the family down in Malibu, CA likely contributes to the feeling of how time seems to be passing quite fast as of late.  We camped at a state campground called Leo Carrillo State Beach and had a great time.  We try to get down there every year, but have missed this venture that past couple of years.  Now that I am back home and back to our routine trying to catch up in some respects.  I feel like I have been inactive on the investing front, but I did make two separate purchases of AT&T (T) last month, but it feels like it has been longer than a few short weeks.  Nonetheless, the dividends have continued to roll in and which of course is satisfying to see.  Below the summary for July along with the YoY comparison.

Recent Buy - AT&T (T) [second purchase in July 2018]

Just a short post here to mention that I added a few more shares to my AT&T position earlier this week.

Purchased:  34 shares x $31.029 = $1,054.99 (+ $4.95 commission fee)

Dividend Income: $2.00 sh/annually x 34 shares = $68.00 in additional dividend income

Comments: This latest purchase brings my total share count in T to 194 shares which equates to a investment value of $6,018 with annual dividend income of $388. My last purchase of T was just over a week ago.

Recent Buy - AT&T (T)

It been over a month since my last stock purchase, which can be found here.  The indexes have been approaching their record highs hit shortly after the first of the year, however, some stock valuations are still hanging out near their 52 week lows.  One such stock is AT&T (T) and today I've decide to add to my position.  Take a look below for the details on the purchase along with some additional commentary.

2018 June Dividend Summary

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.

Recent Buy - PPL Corporation (PPL)

Well, I could no longer resist the appealing valuation of PPL Corp.  I actually have to give credit to Jason Fieber over at Mr. Free at 33 for bringing this company to my attention in recent months and I said as much in a comment on his blog shortly after my limit order executed. Initially, I had considered selling my position in NGG when it was trading at > $58/sh to finance this, but with the retreat in NGG's valuation I've decided to hold on to NGG and purchase PPL using a cash balance I have accumulated.  See details of the purchase along with some additional commentary below.