The market continues a crazy August. After a few weeks there was a solid selection of opportunities afoot, the market suddenly turned and now the opportunities are far and few between. Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to continue building a position I initiated earlier in the month.
At the beginning of August, I purchased 10 shares of Illinois Tool Works (ITW) at $139.89/share. Since we’ve written about this stock a lot over the last few weeks, I will defer you to my initial purchase article (linked above) and Lanny’s purchase article for a details about why we purchased this Dividend Aristocrat. So I’ll keep this update pretty brief!
At the time of my purchase, ITW passed the metrics of our stock screener! Our screener includes reviewing the P/E Ratio, payout ratio, and growth history of the company. Well, what do you know, after my initial purchase, the company’s share price continued to fall. So if the company passed our metrics then, why wouldn’t I add to my position if the price falls? That’s exactly what I did. Thank goodness I have free trades and was able to pick up shares twice! Here were the purchases:
Purchased 5 shares of ITW on August 10, 2018 at $136.62/share
Purchased 7 shares of ITW of August 15, 2018 at $135.58/share
The 12 additional shares added $48 in forward dividend income to my portfolio. Not a large amount, but I’ll take it! I now own 22 shares of ITW, which produces $88 in dividend income. I can’t wait to get my first $22 dividend here in October. In addition, I was able to lower my cost basis by a few dollars since the purchase prices were a few dollars lower.
I told you this update would be brief. I’m excited to have had the opportunity to establish a large position in this Aristocrat. If the price continues to fall, I’ll continue building this position now that the dividend yield is closing in on 3%.
What are your thoughts about my purchase? Would you have continued adding to Illinois Tool Works if you were me? What other stocks are on your watch list for the rest of the month/beginning of the next month?
Bert