2018 is off to a roaring start. The stock market continues to rise and companies are announcing dividend increases and share buyback programs left and right. Dividend investors everywhere are feeling a nice jolt, that’s for sure. Outside of dividend increases, January has been a busy month for me. It has been a long, long time since I have done this. But last week, I purchased Realty Income (O) for the second time in January.
In my last purchase article, I provided detail about my purchase and ultimately why I purchased shares in Realty Income (O) the first time. So I will not bore you all with the details again. However, to quickly summarize, I am a huge fan of O’s diversification of properties, geography, and tenants. Further, the company’s dividend history is great and The Monthly Dividend Company is on the verge of becoming a Aristocrat. On top of it, the company just announced a 3% dividend increase and their last earnings report was pretty darn solid. Honestly, there is a lot to like about the REIT.
In my last article, I also mentioned that I am trying to expand the positions I currently own in my portfolio. Rather than using small sums of capital to initiate a new position, I am going to use small capital purchases to grow my current positions, increase the dividend I receive from each company, and ultimately, the dividend re-investment. O was my #1 target for this strategy as I entered 2018 only owning 42 shares of O. That definitely has changed!
There was one other factor that influenced my purchase. My last purchase consisted of 18 shares at $54.96 per share. And guess what, the price immediately fell after my purchase. While I wasn’t able to transfer funds into my Roth IRA in time to catch the stock while their price was in the high $52 per share and mid $53 per share range, I was able to capture additional shares at a lower price.
This week, I was able to add 10 more shares of Realty Income (O) at $54.14 per share! This purchase added $26.28 to my forward dividend income. Now, I own 70.1082 shares of The Monthly Dividend Company, which produces $146.40 in dividend income. What’s cool is that I should add ~.67 shares of Realty Income each quarter! The best part is that this may not be my last purchase if the price continues to fall. But now, I am thrilled with my purchase and the position I am slowly amassing.
What are your thoughts about my second purchase of Realty Income? Would you have purchased Realty or a different company? What stocks are on your watch list here in the next couple of weeks?
Bert