Recent Buy (KMI) & Crossing an Investing Milestone

It turns out that Lanny was not the only one with an itch to buy.   I have been watching the market closely over the last few weeks calculating an entry point for one of the stocks on my watch list, WalMart, when another great dividend stock appeared out of nowhere.  Just like Lanny, I couldn’t resist purchasing one of the darlings of the dividend growth investing community.   This week, I also invested in Kinder Morgan (KMI).

The Purchase & Milestones

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I was pretty focused on picking up shares in WalMart up until the end of last week when a few different events happened.  Both events played an equal part in my decision to invest in KMI this week.  First, Target’s stock price began to stumble at the end of the week’s after their earnings release, similar to WalMart.  Why was this important?  Because a few months ago I created a list of five stocks that I will always buy and Target made the cut for a variety of reasons.   After seeing another retail giant take a step back and become attractively valued, I wanted to slow down and take some extra time to figure out which investment was the best fit for my portfolio.   I like both companies, but I still had some extra research to perform and I didn’t want to rush that investment decision.  One of my upcoming articles should be an article comparing Target and Walmart and should play a key part in my future investment decision.

Now, to the second event.  Well, I’ll be honest, it was more of a series of events that occurred over few day period than any one specific event.  On Thursday, I received a text message while I was driving to a client in Pennsylvania from Lanny that just said “KMI.”  In typical Lanny fashion, he was vague in any follow-up response and made me wait to figure out what the heck he was talking about. Quick side note, have you noticed over the last few months that many of my stories, investing lessons, or watch lists begin with Lanny sending me a vague text message about a stock. Back to the purchase!  Eventually, I was able to access the internet and I quickly learned that KMI announced a larger than expected dividend increase during their last earnings release.  KMI was suddenly on my radar again and my interest peeked over the next few days as their price continued to fall.  In this time span, Lanny purchased KMI and his article was a huge selling point for me (I won’t go into too much detail in this article since his article was just released) and calmed a lot of the fears I had after reading several negative articles over the weekend.  Suddenly, I just couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore once the stock dipped into the mid-$27 range on Monday.  I just had to buy the stock.   

On Monday, I purchased 40 shares of KMI, adding $81.60 in forward dividend income to my portfolio.   Even though I didn’t knock out any goals with this purchase, this purchase helped me cross some cool portfolio milestones.  First, I crossed $2,500 in projected dividend income with this purchase.  Boy doesn’t it seem like I just crossed the $2,000 mark yesterday.  Time flies! The impact of dividend re-investing  plus my crazy third quarter that saw me purchase a lot of stock added up quickly.  I’m still short of my goal of my dividend income goal $2,750 by December 31, 2015, but man am I pumped to be over halfway to $3,000.   Second, after this purchase and the receipt of KMI’s dividend on 11/13/15, I will own over 100 shares of KMI.   This will represent the first individual in my portfolio with a share count in three figures.  Now I know it is all relative and the market value and dividend income are more important than total shares.  But man is it exciting to see that you own 100 shares of a company.  Can’t wait till that day in November so I can cross that mark!

Summary

All in all, this was a very exciting purchase for me.  It came out of the blue and I was expecting it, but sometimes you have to make the no brainer investment decision and take the opportunity that is staring you in the face.  That’s why I love stock market downturns, they have a knack for creating great opportunities for dividend investors like us.  Lanny was instrumental in pushing me to make this purchase and I couldn’t be happier that he convinced me to take this opportunity and run with it.   Now, let’s get this KMI dividend engine roaring!

Have you purchased KMI recently?  If not, are you looking at other opportunities?  Are you concerned about the KMI’s future dividend growth?  Would you have invested in WMT or TGT over KMI?  Or would you have looked to another one of the four companies on my “Always Buy” list?

Bert

DISCLOSURE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY DECISION TO THE READER or ANY USER, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR OWN RESEARCH. THIS IS ACTUAL DATA, ANALYSIS, HOWEVER I BASE NO INVESTOR RECOMMENDATION.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

14 thoughts on “Recent Buy (KMI) & Crossing an Investing Milestone

  1. Nice pick up, Bert. KMI is very attractive right now and while people are figuring out what to do about it, you made a decision and a move. Congrats on crossing another milestone of $2500 in FY dividend income.

    Keep up the great work
    R2R

    • Thanks R2R! I is nuts, I can’t believe KMI is trading in the $27s. Sometimes it pays to be decisive and it is a great example of the benefits in investing a company you already own. We look for strong companies with an ability to pay a growing dividend going forward. WHile we can’t guarantee a dividend, if a stock is in our portfolio, it has passed the more likely than not test. Otherwise, we would have never invested in the company in the first place.

      Thanks for the kind words about the milestone. Hopefully $3,000 will be here before I know it! Have a great day.

      Bert

  2. WMT is on my watch list at the current price and dividend yield. I’m thinking that the company will turn around after the next couple of years and the changes that they are starting to make.

    • That’s my thought process as well and exactly why the company is on my watch list too. Luckily the ex-dividend date is not until December so we have some time to make a decision. I like the long term prospects and the moat the company has been able to build. They have some characteristics that separate it from other retailers that I believe will allow the company to thrive in the long run.

      Thanks for stopping by!

    • Thanks Tawcan! I can’t wait for this dividend to arrive so I can update my spreadsheet and see the number cross into 3 digits. The stock better not appreciate in the next few weeks to the point where I will still only own 99.9999 or less haha

      Have a great weekend.

      Bert

  3. I like WMT and wrote a special report on it for my DSR website members. Sure the recent announcements make it a little more risky, but it’s also attractive at that price as WMT still is a strong dividend payer.

    Congrats on the milestones as well!

    Mike

    • I’ll have to check out your special report! Definitely want to read more about the company and the short/long term prospects before making an investing decision. But I must say, I am liking what I am seeing so far!

      Thanks for the kind words as always Mike. Have a great weekend!

      Bert

    • Laura!

      Thank you very much. Hopefully you like me slightly better than Lanny…kidding kidding. It is very kind of you to say that and it means a lot to us.

      Have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween.

      Bert

  4. Congrats on reaching the milestone. I’m working on mine also.

    I’m long KMI and WMT. It will be a crazy BlackFriday and XMas shopping at walmart for sure. 🙂 Whether the stocks will bounce back up in short term, I don’t know, but what I know is the yiled for KMI>7% right now, and WMT yield >3.xx% both of them are higher than what my bank is paying me, so I’m happy with both on my portfolio.

    • Thanks you Vivianne. How much more time will you need to cross your milestone?

      The yields for both companies are insane right now. IT is hard not to pay attention to them when they are trading at these prices. I love the long term prospects for both companies, so I am thinking of using this short term downturn to take advantage and get some great long-term dividend income. That’s awesome that you own both! Are you planning on adding to your positions and time soon??

      Bert

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