Monthly Review: May 2016

May was a busy month for me as I completed a project at work that I've been working on for almost a year. Trading in DivGro was light. I added shares to 2 positions and initiated a new position, increasing the number of positions in DivGro to 64.

I expect to focus more on adding shares to existing holdings rather than increasing the number of new positions. That said, there are a few candidates that I'm considering, but they're trading at levels I'm just not comfortable buying!

As usual, this monthly review gives a snapshot of DivGro and my trading activities in the past month. I'm well on my way to this year's goal of $12,000 in projected annual dividend income. When that target is reached, it means that the portfolio will be generating $1,000 per month of dividend income, on average, in perpetuity!

Please see my Performance page for various visuals summarizing DivGro's performance.

May Highlights

I recorded dividend income totaling $751 this month, up 69% from the amount received in May 2015. This month, 18 of my stocks paid dividends, bringing the year-to-date dividend income total to $8,257.

In May, 3 stocks announced dividend increases and I recorded 4 buy transactions. These activities added $322 to DivGro's projected monthly dividend income (PADI), which now stands at $11,383.

DivGro's average yield on cost (YoC) decreased slightly to 4.39%, as did the payback percentage, which now stands at 8.27%.

Here is DivGro's PADI (red line) plotted against monthly dividends:


Comparing dividend income by month is another way to see progress:

I'm looking forward to seeing this month's dividend income total. Because it is a quarter-ending month, I expect to see another record-breaking month!

Transactions:

• Purchases
• 2016-05-03: Buy 26 shares of AAPL @ $94.07
• 2016-05-12: Buy 25 shares of UPS @ $101.84
• 2016-05-12: Buy 30 shares of AAPL @ $90.20
• 2016-05-20: Buy 32 shares of VLO @ $55.84
• Dividends
• 2016-05-02: Cash Dividend Received T: $72.00
• 2016-05-02: Cash Dividend Received DE: $18.00
• 2016-05-02: Cash Dividend Received NPM: $25.20
• 2016-05-03: Cash Dividend Received TD: $26.31
• 2016-05-06: Cash Dividend Received GD: $26.60
• 2016-05-12: Cash Dividend Received RTN: $17.58
• 2016-05-12: Cash Dividend Received AAPL: $39.90
• 2016-05-16: Cash Dividend Received OHI: $81.20
• 2016-05-16: Cash Dividend Received STAG: $27.80
• 2016-05-16: Cash Dividend Received O: $19.90
• 2016-05-16: Cash Dividend Received ABBV: $45.60
• 2016-05-16: Cash Dividend Received MAIN: $41.40
• 2016-05-16: Cash Dividend Received PG: $21.42
• 2016-05-16: Cash Dividend Received TXN: $22.80
• 2016-05-17: Cash Dividend Received MIC: $84.00
• 2016-05-20: Cash Dividend Received CAT: $46.20
• 2016-05-24: Cash Dividend Received HCP: $94.88
• 2016-05-31: Cash Dividend Received EXG: $40.65
• Deposits
• 2016-05-04: Passive Income Cash Deposit: $260.68
• 2016-05-12: JUNE Cash Deposit: $2,500.00
• 2016-05-25: Passive Income Cash Deposit: $313.45

Changes in Projected Annual Dividend Income (PADI):

• From Purchases
• The purchase of 26 AAPL shares added $59.28.
• The purchase of 30 AAPL shares added $68.40.
• The purchase of 25 UPS shares added $78.00.
• The purchase of 32 VLO shares added $76.80.
• From Increases
• TD's dividend increase added $18.45.
• MIC's dividend increase added $14.00.
• NOC's dividend increase added $6.40.
• PADI increased by 321.33 to $11,382.79

Dividend Summary:

• Dividend income last month: $1,536.00
• Dividend income this month: $751.44
• Total dividend income year-to-date: $8,257.39
• Total dividend income all-time: $21,458.96

Markets:

Apr 30, 2016	DOW: 17,773.64 S&P 500: 2,065.30 10-YR BOND: 1.82%
May 31, 2016	DOW: 17,787.20 S&P 500: 2,096.95 10-YR BOND: 1.83%

In May, the Dow gained 0.08% and the S&P 500 gained 1.53%. In comparison, DivGro declined slightly by 0.11%.

Portfolio: Here is a snapshot of DivGro's state on 31 May 2016:

Goals Report

I've set some challenging goals for 2016:

1. PADI: Increase projected annual dividend income to $12,000.
2. Dividends: Earn $10,800 in dividend income.
3. Posts: Post 120 articles on my DivGro blog.
4. Seeking: Write 52 premium articles for Seeking Alpha.
5. DivNet: Write 8 articles for The DivNet.

The last gauge is a reference – it indicates where the other gauges should be after 152 out of 366 days. I'm ahead of schedule with PADI,  Dividends, Posts and Seeking. I'm working on an idea for a short series of articles for DivNet, which I'm hoping to get published soon!

May Posts

I wrote a total of 11 articles in May. In case you missed any of them, here they are:

•   2 May: 28 Dividend Increases: April 25-29, 2016 (Part 1: Financials and MLPs) – a lot of increases!
•   3 May: 28 Dividend Increases: April 25-29, 2016 (Part 2: Non-Financials) – a lot of increases, part 2!
•   7 May: Recent Buy: Gap Inc – adding 105 shares to the 60 shares I already own
•   8 May: 17 Dividend Increases: May 2-6, 2016 – 4 double digit increases and one DivGro stock with an increase
• 10 May: Monthly Review: April 2016 – 7 dividend increases and 17 dividend checks!
• 15 May: 7 Dividend Increases: May 9-13, 2016 – 3 double digit increases 
• 17 May: 10 Dividend Growth Stocks For May 2016 – 5 newcomers, with VLO topping this month's list
• 19 May: Recent Buy: Apple Inc – adding 56 shares to the 44 shares I already own
• 23 May: 11 Dividend Increases: May 16-20, 2016 – 2 double digit increase and 2 DivGro stocks announcing increases
• 25 May: Recent Buy: Valero Energy Corporation – adding 32 shares to the 40 shares I already own
• 31 May: 8 Dividend Increases: May 23-27, 2016 – 6 double digit increases, with the largest a whopping 32%!

Looking Ahead: I'll be taking a little time off in June. We're going to Annecy in France, where a short film I've been working on will premiere at The 2016 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. We're also hoping to spend some time in Paris, Lyon and Carcassonne in France, as well as in Barcelona in Spain. I'm planning to have some articles ready for publication for some of the time we're away. One of my goals for June is to initiate my first covered call trade. I'm looking forward to boosting DivGro's dividend income with a covered call strategy.

Thanks for reading and take care, everybody!