Monthly Review, December 2014

As we enter this new year, I'd like to review DivGro's performance in 2014. Before posting my quarterly and annual reviews, let me first take care of December's monthly review. As always, I'm updating my blog's Performance page so readers can review DivGro's status and performance relative to the markets and to prior months.

On the last day of 2014, DivGro's market value was $118,213, down slightly from November's month-end market value. The portfolio is delivering an average yield on cost (YoC) of 4.6%. Projected monthly income is $407, up from $398 at the end of November.


As far as dividend income goes, December was not quite the record month I had expected. The month's total of $480 is the second highest monthly income, after September's $498. Seadrill's (NYSE:SDRL) dividend suspension is still impacting DivGro's statistics and charts (including the fourth quarter performance, which I'll report on soon).

AT&T (NYSE:T) announced a small dividend increase of 2.17%, the only dividend hike for DivGro this month. Due to a currency exchange loss, the last dividend paid by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NYSE:NTT) was smaller than expected. The overall impact on DivGro's projected annual dividend income of these dividend changes is small, an increase of only $1.31 ($3.00 - $1.69).

This month, I added 25 shares to my Chevron (NYSE:CVX) holding after the stock price dropped rather precipitously along with the crude oil price. My timing seemed to have been great, as the stock price has recovered nicely since the purchase. Initial YoC is 4.16% and, in the process, I managed to reduce the average cost basis on my CVX shares to $106.33.

Currently, DivGro's projected annual dividend income is $4,886, which means I can expect monthly dividend income averaging about $407 going forward.

Transactions:

• Purchases
• 2014-12-16: Buy 25 shares of CVX @ $102.97
• Dividends
• 2014-12-01: Cash Dividend Receipt AFL: $19.50
• 2014-12-01: Cash Dividend Receipt COP: $27.74
• 2014-12-01: Cash Dividend Receipt HP: $19.94
• 2014-12-01: Cash Dividend Receipt INTC: $27.00
• 2014-12-01: Cash Dividend Receipt PRE: $18.09
• 2014-12-01: Cash Dividend Receipt TGH: $35.25
• 2014-12-09: Cash Dividend Receipt JNJ: $21.00
• 2014-12-10: Cash Dividend Receipt TGT: $20.80
• 2014-12-10: Cash Dividend Receipt CVX: $26.75
• 2014-12-10: Cash Dividend Receipt XOM: $20.70
• 2014-12-10: Cash Dividend Receipt IBM: $15.40
• 2014-12-11: Cash Dividend Receipt MSFT: $24.80
• 2014-12-12: Cash Dividend Receipt WBA: $14.85
• 2014-12-15: Cash Dividend Receipt VNR: $37.80
• 2014-12-15: Cash Dividend Receipt NTT: $40.35
• 2014-12-15: Cash Dividend Receipt MCD: $22.95
• 2014-12-15: Cash Dividend Receipt MDP: $23.79
• 2014-12-15: Cash Dividend Receipt AVA: $23.81
• 2014-12-31: Cash Dividend Receipt NU: $23.55
• 2014-12-31: Cash Dividend Receipt TRV: $15.95
• Deposits
• 2014-12-30: JANUARY Cash Deposit: $2,500.00

Changes in Projected Annual Dividend Income:

• The purchase of 25 CVX shares added $107.00.
• T's dividend increase added $3.00.
• NTT's dividend decrease removed $-1.69.
• Projected annual dividend income (31 December 2014): $4,885.70.

Dividend Summary:

• Dividend income last month: $301.60
• Dividend income this month: $480.02
• Total dividend income year-to-date: $3,945.10

Markets:

Nov 30, 2014	DOW: 17,828.24 S&P 500: 2,067.56 10-YR BOND: 2.19%
Dec 31, 2014	DOW: 17,823.07 S&P 500: 2,058.90 10-YR BOND: 2.17%

In December, the Dow dropped -0.03% and the S&P 500 dropped -0.42%. In comparison, DivGro dropped -2.47%.

Portfolio: The following spreadsheet shows the state of DivGro on 31 December 2014:

Looking Ahead: Soon, I'll post my Q4 and second annual review posts. In the new year, I have very challenging goals to take care of, including earning $6,000 in dividend income and boosting projected annual dividend income to $7,500. I'll continue to deposit $2,500 of fresh capital every month and also look for opportunities to make a few bonus deposits. Along with my growing dividend income of about $400 per month as well as blog income, I hope to deploy about $45,000 in new capital this year.