Monthly Review, November 2014

November was a tough month for DivGro as one of my holdings, Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL) suspended its dividend. Following the dividend suspension announcement, the stock price plunged and has been sliding ever since. I am still contemplating next steps, which most probably would involve selling all or some of my shares.

I've had some good news to counterbalance the SDRL fiasco. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) announced a dividend increase, which justifies my earlier decision to hold onto my shares. Many dividend growth investors got rid of their INTC shares because the company failed to raise its dividend for eleven straight quarters. I'm glad I did not sell my shares! INTC has been doing great since I bought 120 shares in January 2013. The stock price has increased 76% and I've received dividends equaling 7.42%.

This month, I added shares to my BHP Billiton (NYSE:BBL) holding and I opened a new position in Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP). These buys increased DivGro's projected annual dividend income by $221. Unfortunately, SDRL's dividend suspension caused projected annual dividend income to drop to $4,777, below my 2014 goal of $4,800. I'm hoping to make up the $23 difference with my upcoming December purchase.

I'm close to achieving another goal, that of reaching $3,600 in dividend income in 2014. DivGro's year-to-date dividend income is $3,465. I expect December to be a record month for dividend income, so I'm confident that I'll reach this goal before year-end. The addition of HP means that DivGro now has 36 different holdings, taking care of that goal for the year!

DivGro now has a market value of $118,314, up 2.1% from October's market value. The portfolio is delivering an average yield on cost of 4.61%. Projected monthly income is $398, down from $436 at the end of October.

INTC is the only DivGro holding that received a dividend hike in November. The 6.67% raise is quite welcome, though it doesn't make up for SDRL's loss of $688 in annual dividend income. In November, DivGro earned a total of $302 in dividend income, down from October's total of $355. As mentioned above, I expect December to be a record month!

Transactions:

• Purchases
• 2014-11-11: Buy 29 shares of HP @ $85.57
• 2014-11-20: Buy 57 shares of BBL @ $50.20
• Dividends
• 2014-11-01: Return of Capital ETP: $97.50
• 2014-11-03: Cash Dividend Receipt DE: $18.00
• 2014-11-06: Return of Capital APU: $105.60
• 2014-11-14: Cash Dividend Receipt GD: $21.70
• 2014-11-14: Cash Dividend Receipt VNR: $37.80
• 2014-11-20: Cash Dividend Receipt CAT: $21.00
• Deposits
• 2014-11-20: Bonus Cash Deposit: $850.
• 2014-11-28: DECEMBER Cash Deposit: $2,500.

Changes in Projected Annual Dividend Income:

• The purchase of 29 HP shares added $79.75.
• The purchase of 57 BBL shares added $141.36.
• INTC's dividend increase added $7.20.
• SDRL's dividend suspension removed $688.
• Projected annual dividend income (30 November 2014): $4,777.39.

Dividend Summary:

• Dividend income last month: $355.07
• Dividend income this month: $301.60
• Total dividend income year-to-date: $3,465.08

Markets:

Oct 3, 2014	DOW: 17,390.52 S&P 500: 2,001.20 10-YR BOND: 2.34%
Nov 30, 2014	DOW: 17,828.24 S&P 500: 2,067.56 10-YR BOND: 2.19%

In November, the Dow gained 2.52% and the S&P 500 gained 3.32%. In comparison, DivGro dropped 0.67%. DivGro underperformed primarily due to SDRL's poor performance.

Portfolio: The following spreadsheet shows the state of DivGro on 30 November 2014:

Looking Ahead: I have enough funds for a single purchase in December. I'll be looking at the sector winners in my upcoming December dashboard post for a candidate. I'm looking forward to writing a post on my goals for 2015, as I've been thinking a lot about what those should be. Expected dividend income for December should push me over the $3,600 level for 2014, which would complete all my goals for 2014!