Dividend Portfolio Update for October 2019

Earnings are rolling in and looks like the economy isn’t slowing as fast as many have expected. There are definite signals of slowing in the economy but nothing as grim as many had feared.

It seems the market took some relief from signs of potential bottoming in the economic slowdown. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally somewhat visible.

I feel like a healthy dose of skepticism among investors is always a good thing. Keeps bubbles from inflating too large where it may become a systemic problem.

The bar has been set low and many companies are inline or beating expectations. Overall projections seem like businesses expect modest to slight slow down in economic activity.

It’s still the strong consumers doing most of the heavy lifting in the US economy. With business investments weak and on the decline due to uncertainty in global trade.

I gave up on thinking the US and China will ever have a real comprehensive trade deal anytime soon. However, if a real trade deal becomes reality (unlike the phase 1 deal), the upside risk may be huge.

But what do I know! I’m just an amateur investor trying to make sense of the complexities of the world. 😊

 

 

If tariffs don’t continue to climb from here on forward, it seems the US economy can weather the new norm continuing economic expansion.

One definite benefit from this tariff war is businesses have much better, well diversified supply chains. I believe this is a huge benefit for future stability in global businesses not many fully realize yet.

The stars seem to be aligning properly for continued gains in stocks with Federal Reserve Chairman, J. Powell signaling to markets that low rates are here to stay for some time. Cheap money seems to be stimulating the housing markets which should be a nice stimulus to the economy next year.

I’m starting to think we may continue to break records in terms of the longest bull market run in history.

All of this is interesting but back to dividends!

 

Highlights and Noteworthy

AT&T (Ticker: T)

• AT&T and Elliott management came to an agreement. Much of it was what AT&T already had planned on accomplishing in regards to aggressive debt draw down and strategic divestiture of non-core businesses. CEO Randall Stephenson will also remain in charge. Agreement also includes potential job cuts and stock buybacks.
• Company unveiled streaming service, HBO Max to rival competitors such as Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+. The service will be priced the same as their current HBO service at $14.99 and expected to release on May 2020.
• HBO Max streaming service targets 80 million subscribers by 2025. A conservative target easy to beat in my opinion. 🤔

Altria (Ticker: MO)

• Altria’s investment in Juul for 13 Billion last December, has been written down 4.5 billion after vaping political backlash.

Johnson & Johnson (Ticker: JNJ)

• Earlier this month, the FDA claimed they have found traces of asbestos in samples from a bottle of baby powder from J&J. However, the company hired an independent laboratory to investigate the claim but found no asbestos in the same bottle the FDA tested. Ongoing tests on other samples have been taken with no traces of asbestos. Odd situation going on here…

 

 

Buy Orders

I purchased 18 Shares of Bank of America (Ticker: BAC) at $27.55, which will add an additional $12.96 to my total annual dividend income.

I purchased 3 Shares of 3M Company (Ticker: MMM) at $153.84, which will add an additional $17.28 to my total annual dividend income.

I purchased 12 Shares of Invesco S&P 500 High Div ETF (Ticker: SPHD) at $41.23, which will add an additional $21.02 to my total annual dividend income.

I purchased 4 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (Ticker: JNJ) at $128.27, which will add an additional $15.20 to my total annual dividend income.

I purchased 1 Shares of Boeing Company (Ticker: BA) at $331.06, which will add an additional $8.22 to my total annual dividend income.

The addition of dividends added to the year from this month’s purchase comes to $74.68.

 

Sell Orders

There have been no sales for this month.

 

Pass Go and Collect Dividends!

Iron Mountain Incorporated (Ticker: IRM) paid $19.55

Amphenol Corporation (Ticker: APH) paid $3.00

Altria Group (Ticker: MO) paid $33.60

Invesco S&P High Dividend (Ticker: SPHD) paid $164.18

JP Morgan Chase & Co. (Ticker: JPM) paid $34.20

This month the LBF dividend portfolio paid out dividends in total of $254.53 from 5 holdings.

 

Dividend Increases & Decreases

Enterprise Products Partners L. (Ticker: EPD) raised its dividend by 0.6%, which added an additional annual dividend income of $0.43 to the portfolio.

Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend (Ticker: SPHD) TTM yield has increased by 0.8%, which added an additional annual dividend income of $14.58 to the portfolio.

The Blackstone Group (Ticker: BX) raised its dividend by 2.1%, which added an additional annual dividend income of $2.52 to the portfolio.

Iron Mountain Inc (Ticker: IRM) raised its dividend by 1.2%, which added an additional annual dividend income of $0.96 to the portfolio.

The total dividend increases provided from companies comes to $18.48 for this month.

 

 

Portfolio Snapshot

“Click photo to enlarge”

• The dividend portfolio now consists of 23 holdings which is higher by 1 since last month.
• The portfolio closed the month at $146,878.35 which is +2.6% higher than the previous month total of $143,139.40.
• Total dividends paid this month amounts to $254.53 which is a +529.4% increase YOY.
• As of this month, the portfolio is expected to generate $6,115.72 in annual dividends. That is a +1.6% increase from the prior month which was $6,022.06.
• Total dividends paid YTD is $4,570.66.
• Total dividends added by companies YTD is $171.82. (Missing some data here but it will become more accurate starting this month’s update. It will be interesting and fun to track how the company’s dividend increases impact my dividend income over the longer term.)

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Conclusion

We have low volume market rallies bringing all time highs. Lots of smart money cash on the sidelines. Healthy skepticism among investors and money managers.

I feel like the markets have priced in a lot of potential bad news. I wonder if this is a perfect set up for a nice pop to the upside. I’ve seen this type of set up a few times in the past.

Anyhow, what an amazing year so far. Best I have seen in my whole entire time I have been investing. The S&P 500 returns YTD has been the best I have seen thus far.

Returns like this are so rare to see. Even with an opportunity fund cash holdings upwards of 7%, my total portfolio including this dividend portfolio is performing on par with the S&P 500 index.

An amazing month and year no doubt! It’s quite possible this year may result to a record year for market returns in a long time.

Odd… I sound a bit bullish on the markets… hmm… 🤔

That’s another month of dividends for my FIRE lifestyle in the books! Till next month! Thanks for stopping by.