Bert’s October Dividend Income Summary

Happy Halloween everyone!  The fourth quarter started out with a bang and we are closing in on the new year quickly.  I still cannot believe we are closing in on 2017; hopefully it will be as exciting for all of us as it is setting up to be for Lanny.   The end of the month is always the best because it allows us to reflect on the growth we experienced  over the last 30 or so days.  I love seeing what the two of us and the dividend investing community were able to earn without lifting a finger.  Now, it is time to take a look at my October Dividend Income summary!

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october dividend income summary

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In October, the first month of the fourth quarter, I received $148.32 in dividend income, or a 40% increase from the previous year!  Bodda bing bodda boom!  Couldn’t be happier with the results this month and breaking down the numbers left me even more excited than I was entering this article.   First, I received my first dividend from Cardinal Health (CAH) after purchasing 50 shares in the third quarter.  Nothing is better in my opinion than receiving a dividend check from a new company in your portfolio as it is obviously the easiest and fastest way to increase our dividend income.    Coincidentally, this may not be the last time I am writing about receiving income from new shares of Cardinal Health;  I may have to increase my stake after the nose dive the company took at the end of October.  I’ve had my eyes set on Realty Income, especially after the dividend stock analysis I performed over the company recently, but the double-digit decrease in CAH’s stock price may just be too good to pass up.  We will see what Mr. Market gives us in the upcoming weeks.  Regardless though,  I am pumped I received income from a new company in an “off month” in the quarter!

While it may appear that I received income for the first time from Kraft-Heinz (KHC), the table above is slightly misleading.  If you all recall, KHC was a little late announcing and paying their dividend after their merger last summer.  Instead of paying in the first month of the quarter, as they typically do, the company actually paid their dividend in November 2015.   This will benefit my dividend growth rate this month and cause some pain in November.  All in all though, this is just a timing difference and looks a lot better/worse than it actually was.   Outside of those two items, the remaining year over year changes were a result of dividend increases (which are always awesome), currency items (GSK), and even the result of the selling of a few high fee mutual funds that occurred at the beginning of 2016.

October dividend increases this month

I’ve been looking forward to writing this section as I received dividend increases from three companies.  What’s funny is they all came at the very end of the month and I am probably the most excited about the smallest increase of the three.  Here are the announcements and the impact the increases had on my forward dividend income.

  • AEP (AEP) – Lanny actually pointed this dividend increase out to me today and I was pretty excited.  AEP increased their quarterly dividend from $.56/share to $.59/share, a 5.3% increase!  This increased my annual dividend income by $2.57.
  • Aflac (AFL) – Aflac increased their quarterly dividend from $.41/share to $.43/share, a 4.87% increase.   This increased my annual dividend income by $2.56 per share.  This increase oddly had nearly the same impact on my forward annual dividend income as AEP…what a coincidence.
  • Chevron (CVX) – And now, the surprise dividend increase that I am the most excited about.  We all know about the impact lower oil prices have had on the oil and gas community; several dividend increase streaks have been on the line.  Out of the blue though, Chevron decided to increase their quarterly dividend by $.01, from $1.07/share to $1.08/share, a 1% increase.  In total, this resulted in a $.43 increase in my annual dividend income.  While the increase is tiny, it leaves me optimistic about the condition of some of the companies in this industry and the prospect of future dividend increases resuming soon.  Time will tell, but it was an exciting surprise.

Summary

Another important thing to highlight here…I actually published my dividend income summary before Lanny did!  Now talk about milestones here haha All jokes aside, another strong month of dividend income.  I received some unexpected dividend increases as well, which is always a treat.  Dividend growth rates are still below the levels we experienced over the last few years, but that is a product of the current environment.  Regardless, this was a great kickoff to the fourth quarter and hopefully I can replicate these kind of results for November and December.  Now, it is time to make a strong push with two months ago  to knock out all of my goals for 2016.  I still have some work to do, so I need to stay focused on the end game.   I built a strong watch list a few weeks ago, so hopefully I can act on some of the stocks I am targeting and add to a position (or create a new position) in my portfolio soon.  We say it all the time here, but it never gets old.  Every..single…dollar counts in your pursuit of financial freedom.  Don’t forget that!

How did you perform in October?  Did you benefit from any unexpected dividend increases?  If so, which companies increased their payout to you?  What stocks should I be watching as we head in to November?  Do you have any hidden gems?   As always, I’m looking forward to your comments!

-Bert

18 thoughts on “Bert’s October Dividend Income Summary

  1. Looks like a solid month Bert. Almost $150 and solid growth thanks to your purchases. It’s always great getting to see those dividends finally start coming in from a new purchase. CAH is becoming quite popular with several other bloggers picking up some shares Guess I need to finally sit down and look at this company. Like you I was glad to see CVX finally announce an increase even though it wasn’t much of one. I expect dividend growth from CVX to be a bit muted for the next couple years unless oil returns to near $100. They’ve got a lot of debt to try and work through and I’d love to see them lighten up their leverage a bit. All the best.

    • Thanks JC! Pumped as heck with the results here. Nothing more motivating than seeing a solid double digit dividend increase. Definitely check it out and see if CAH is your cup of tea. It happened to be there are the right time for me and I may now add more considering the price has fallen over the last few days. I’m with you, I don’t expect CVX to announce a large dividend increase for the next few years based on the current state of oil. But that is how I feel about the industry as a whole and will consider it a blessing that CVX decided to increase theirs slightly.

      Bert

  2. Wow 40% YOY increase? That’s pretty amazing Bert. Congrats on a solid dividend income for month of October. Totally didn’t expect CVX to raise dividend payout, so that was a surprise.

    • Thanks Tawcan! I would love to keep that kind of a growth rate going forward for a while! Isn’t it nice when a a predictable blue chip company finds a way to dig deep and find a surprise for you?? It may have been $.01…but I’ll take it!

      Bert

  3. Bodda bing bodda boom! I couldn’t have said it better myself. Solid job for the month and nice year over year increase too. I get just as excited reporting about year over year increases as I do reporting the actual dollar amount coming in passively. Looks like you are continuing in the right direction.

    • haha thanks Divhut! The dollars are absolutely important, but right now I am focused on the large percent increases as I continue to try and get my dividend income off the ground floor and let the power of compounding take over. Hopefully I can keep it up and keep it moving in the right direction in 2016!

      Bert

  4. Looks like some nice dividends coming in there. Great to see CAH also paying out for the first time since you bought it.
    October is not a very exciting month for us, since we had only 1 company paying us dividends. But we keep going, and this one pay out will hopefully get company of many others in the future.

    • Divnomics,

      Thanks! Getting a dividend for the first time is such a kick ass/awesome feeling. The first month of the quarter is usually pretty boring since there aren’t a lot of companies that pay a dividend. Heck, the final month of the quarter dwarfs this month in terms of companies that pay off. That’s another reason why seeing a large increase was so clutch!

      Bert

  5. I did very good this month. So definatly looking forward to future first months. I don’t have a hidden gem but looking at a bank that tries to return 100 percent which can be both good and bad.

  6. Nice increases all around 40% impressive. I did not expect CVX increase but will take it. It built some confidence in the industry as a whole. Also increase on VZ and ATT are a plus for me.

    Cheers

    Dividend Pursuit

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