Monthly Review, February 2015

Every month, I review the past month's activities relating to DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. At the same time, I update my blog's Performance page, which provides a central place for reviewing DivGro's status and performance relative to the markets and to prior months.

At the end of February, DivGro's market value was $145,167. Projected monthly dividend income increased to $447 from $434 last month. The portfolio is delivering an average yield on cost (YoC) of 4.58%. I collected $358 in dividend income, which represents an increase of 254% over last February's dividend income of $101.

In February, I deposited another $10,000 to DivGro, allowing more buys than normal: I added to my position in Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), averaging down to a per share cost basis of $81.69. I also added to my position in Helmerich & Payne Inc (NYSE:HP), averaging down to a per share cost basis of $71.95. Finally, I added to my position in AT&T Inc (NYSE: T), averaging down to a per share cost basis of $33.43.

Transactions:

• Purchases
• 2015-02-02: Buy 30 shares of CAT @ $79.64
• 2015-02-02: Buy 41 shares of HP @ $62.31
• 2015-02-02: Buy 75 shares of T @ $33.21
• Dividends
• 2015-02-02: Cash Dividend Receipt DE: $18.00
• 2015-02-02: Cash Dividend Receipt T: $35.25
• 2015-02-04: Return of Capital ETP: $99.50
• 2015-02-06: Cash Dividend Receipt GD: $21.70
• 2015-02-06: Return of Capital APU: $105.60
• 2015-02-13: Cash Dividend Receipt VNR: $37.80
• 2015-02-20: Cash Dividend Receipt CAT: $21.00
• 2015-02-27: Cash Dividend Receipt PRE: $18.90
• Deposits
• 2015-02-04: Bonus Cash Deposit: $10,000.00
• 2015-02-27: March Cash Deposit: $2,500.00

Changes in Projected Annual Dividend Income:

• The purchase of 41 HP shares added $112.75.
• The purchase of 30 CAT shares added $84.00.
• The purchase of 75 T shares added $141.00.
• MDP's dividend increase added $5.50.
• PRE's dividend increase added $3.24.
• AVA's dividend increase added $3.75.
• WMT's dividend increase added $1.36.
• DLR's dividend increase added $3.84.
• VNR's dividend decrease removed $-199.80.
• Projected annual dividend income (28 February 2015): $5,361.99.

Dividend Summary:

• Dividend income last month: $332.20
• Dividend income this month: $357.75
• Total dividend income year-to-date: $689.95

Markets:

Jan 31, 2015	DOW: 17,164.95 S&P 500: 1,994.99 10-YR BOND: 1.67%
Feb 28, 2015	DOW: 18,132.70 S&P 500: 2,104.50 10-YR BOND: 2.00%

In February, the Dow gained 5.64% and the S&P 500 gained 5.49%. In comparison, DivGro gained 3.8%.

Portfolio: See my Performance page for a spreadsheet showing the state of DivGro on 28 February 2015.

Goals Progress: Here is a chart showing the progress I'm making on my 2015 goals. With just more than 16% of the year behind us, I'm making great progress in several fronts. Dividend income is lagging quite far behind, but I'll catch up a bit in March because end-of-quarter months are the strongest as far as dividend income is concerned. I still haven't written a DivNet article, but hope to do so soon. Unfortunately, I took a step back on my weight loss goal. I'll turn that around in March...

Looking Ahead: Having deposited more bonus cash, I'm looking forward to reporting on several new buys in March. I still need to write my first DivNet article and I'm hoping to get around to doing that this month.

Thanks for reading!