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Saturday, January 16, 2016

Quarterly Review, Q4-2015

This is the 12th quarterly review of DivGro, concluding 3 years of dividend growth investing and blogging. Soon I'll post an annual review of my portfolio's performance in 2015.

In my previous quarterly review (Q3-2015) I talked about big plans for Q4-2015, including selling stocks I no longer believe should be in my portfolio and merging the holdings of my Scottrade portfolio with those in DivGro. So I'll be reporting on those moves as well as DivGro's performance in Q4-2015.

Last quarter, I reported projected annual dividend income of $6,954 and year-to-date dividend income of $4,836. These numbers now stand at $6,776 and $7,907, respectively.

Projected dividends decreased because I sold several stocks in November and December. Before December's sells, DivGro's projected dividends increased to $8,018. I achieved 5 out of 8 of my 2015 goals, including earning more than $7,500 in dividend income in 2015.

Dividend Income


DivGro's dividend income in Q4-2015 totaled $3,070, a significant increase over last quarter's total of $1,781. A good portion of the record dividend income comes from the transfer of past dividends (from my Scottrade portfolio). Excluding those dividends, I earned $1,721 in dividend income in Q4-2015. This amount represents an increase of 51% from the year-ago quarter, Q4-2014.


DivGro's average percentage payback is 7.98%, up from 6.44% at the end of Q3-2015. Percentage payback relates dividend income to the total amount of capital invested.

Transactions


Capital funds increased $34,648 in Q4-2015. This amount includes passive income deposits of $766, new capital of $6,000 and transfers of past capital deposits totaling $27,882.

Here is a summary of my buys in Q4-2015:

Company
 Ticker
 Date 
Transaction
ConocoPhillips
 COP
 30 Oct 
bought 47 shares at $53.93 per share 
HCP, Inc
 HCP
 29 Jul 
bought 75 shares at $34.00 per share
Qualcomm, Inc
 QCOM
 24 Nov 
bought 90 shares at $49.32 per share

The QCOM buy was a tax-loss harvesting purchase, which I completed on 31 December when I sold 65 shares of QCOM at $51.06 per share.

Additionally, I closed several positions in Q4-2015:

Company
 Ticker
 Date 
Transaction
PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust
 PMT
 2 Nov 
sold 120 shares at $14.81 per share
Textainer Group Holdings Limited
 TGH
4 Nov
sold 75 shares at $14.94 per share
AmeriGas Partners, LP
 APU
 29 Dec 
sold 120 units at $33.87 per share
Energy Transfer Partners, LP
 ETP
 29 Dec 
sold 100 units at $33.19 per share 
Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC
 VNR
 29 Dec 
sold 180 shares at $3.01 per share
Seadrill Ltd
 SDRL
 29 Dec 
sold 172 shares at $3.63 per share

The reason for closing my PMT and TGH positions is dividend cuts. As for APU, ETP, and VNR, I no longer wish to invest in Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). In my opinion, the higher yields of MLPs are not worth the complicated tax filing procedures. I elaborated on my speculative foray into SDRL, which turned out disastrously and taught me a valuable lesson. Enough said.

At the end of Q4-2015, DivGro contained 52 stocks.

Dividend Adjustments


Ten of DivGro's holdings announced dividend increases in Q4-2015:
Company
 Ticker
IncreaseAnnual
Div
New 
YoC
The Walt Disney Company
 (DIS)
7.58%
$1.42
1.45%
Pfizer Inc
 (PFE)
7.14%
$1.20
4.79%
AFLAC Incorporated
 (AFL)
5.13%
$1.64
3.28%
McDonald's Corporation
 (MCD)
4.71%
$3.56
3.79%
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
 (NTT
4.56%
$0.73
3.25%
Energy Transfer Partners, LP
 (ETP)
1.93%
$4.22
8.90%
Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc
 (OHI)
1.82%
$2.24
6.00%
W.P. Carey, Inc
 (WPC)
1.01%
$3.86
5.77%
STAG Industrial, Inc
 (STAG)
0.70%
$1.39
7.34%
Realty Income Corporation
 (O)
0.26%
$2.29
4.68%

In Q4-2015, DivGro's projected annual dividend income decreased by $180 to $6,776, a decrease of 2.59%. Average yield on cost (YoC) is 4.10%, down from 4.42% at the end of Q3-2015. YoC decreased because I closed several positions in December 2015.

Market Value


At the end of Q4-2015, DivGro's market value of $178,872 represented a simple loss of 2.22% on $182,935 invested. Of course, a simple loss does not take into account the timing and size of cash deposits. DivGro's time-weighted return since inception is 17.4%.


Other Highlights


Following are some additional highlights of Q4-2015. 

Page Views

DivGro hit 360,000 page views on 22 December 2015, adding a little more than 50,000 page views in Q4-2015. The daily average page views continues to steadily climb:


 25 September 2015
 daily average page views since inception: 311 
 18 October 2015
 daily average page views since inception: 314
 2 November 2015
 daily average page views since inception: 319
 19 November 2015
 daily average page views since inception: 323
 5 December 2015
 daily average page views since inception: 328
 22 December 2015
 daily average page views since inception: 332

This quarter, DivGro averaged 567 page views per day, down slightly from an average of 569 page views in Q3-2015.

Popular Posts

In Q4-2015, I wrote 35 articles, including 10 premium articles for Seeking Alpha and 2 articles for The DIV-Net. Here are links to the 3 most popular premium articles published on Seeking Alpha in Q4-2015:
The 3 most popular articles posted on my blog in Q4-2015 are:
Here is my personal favorite article of Q4-2015, originally posted on The DivNet on 23 December:

Outlook For Q1-2016


In Q1-2016, I'll complete the process of transferring my Scottrade holdings to DivGro and start to chip away on my overall goals for 2016. I'm also planning on restarting my monthly ranking of a selection of dividend growth stocks. The last article in this series appeared in July 2015. The reason for the hiatus will become evident in my first article – it has to do with the way I filter David Fish's CCC stocks for the ranking process. I'm hoping to include more stocks in the ranking process, which requires a more robust and automated ranking system.

Thanks for reading and I wish you the very best in 2016! 

14 comments :

  1. I love reading these types of updates. There must be something so comforting about seeing progress all laid out in numbers and graphs.

    I'm at an early stage of my investment journey and your work motivates me to work harder in the future!

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Josh -- thanks for reading and commenting! While it takes a bit of dedication and determination, I find it really worth the effort to keep track of my investments and to blog about it. Doing so helps me keep going, and provides a history of this journey that I'll be able to reference later.

      I'm really glad that you find some motivation here. Best of luck and keep working at it! Its worth it.

      Cheers
      FerdiS

      Delete
  2. Great progress. Nice forecasted income...I'd love to get there with my US holdings one day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there, Integrator -- thanks for visiting and commenting.

      The idea of perpetual income is fascinating. Assuming no dividend cuts, I can expect to receive at least $565 per month FOREVER.

      Your total 2015 dividend income is amazing! It will take me a while to get there... Best of luck in growing your US dividend income in the next few years!

      Take care
      FerdiS

      Delete
  3. Nice update, and some good recent buys. The layout is very readable and the content is excellent

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting and for your kind words, moneyoryourtime! Take care and visit again, soon!

      Delete
  4. Looks like Q4 was a great month for you, FerdiS. Thanks for sharing your update - wishing you the best for 2016.

    R2R

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi R2R -- thanks for the well wishes. I'm enjoying your posts and wish you the best for 2016 as well!

      Take care
      FerdiS

      Delete
  5. This is admirable DivGro. I, on the other hand, had suffered major capital loss since starting to invest January 2015. Your blog also gave me a new perspective in dividend investing.

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mark -- thanks for visiting and commenting. Before starting dividend growth investing, I traded almost weekly, making and also losing money frequently. Given the bull market the past 7 years, I did reasonably well. The problem is I worried about the markets all the time. With dividend growth investing, most of those worries have gone away.

      Cheers
      FerdiS

      Delete
  6. I love these updates and the graphs are awesome. It's really nice to see the upward dividend trajectory. I commend you for getting rid of lower quality companies and replacing them with high-quality and steady growers. I think I'm staying away from MLP's and pseudo-MLP's like KMI from now on also, quality is key.

    Take care and best of luck in 2016!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks AAI -- the upward dividend trajectory is one of the most inspirational things of dividend growth investing. While the red and green bars take turns at the top of the chart, the magenta bars at the base should grow consistently over time.

      I cannot agree with you more about quality being key! There may be some lower quality stocks yet lurking in my portfolio, so I'll be scrutinizing it over the next year to continue improving the portfolio.

      Cheers
      FerdiS

      Delete
  7. Amazing update. One of the most analytical updates I have seen a while. Your dividend bar is getting higher and higher which will eventually take up a significant room. Not to mention, future capital gain. Good job!

    BeSmartRich

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, BeSmartRich, for your kind words. I really appreciate that you visit my blog and comment. I've been getting lots of inspiration from this DGI community and I'm hoping to return the favor through my blog.

      Take care and all the best in your investment journey!

      Cheers
      FerdiS

      Delete

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