Monthly Review: July 2015

Regular readers of my blog probably have noticed a slowdown in the number of posts in August. The reason for the slowdown is that my work has required more of my time than usual. Furthermore, the little remaining free time has gone into landscaping work at our house – some hard, physical work that served as a great distraction from the mental work I do on a daily basis.

On this last day of August, I want to post my monthly review for July. It is a long overdue post, but, as they say, rather late than never!

Dividend income in July was down significantly from the record dividend income I received in June, but projected monthly dividend income is tracking nicely. This is one of the things I love about dividend growth investing:


July Highlights

After June's record dividend income of $924, July's dividend income is rather modest at $394. In fact, it didn't even top last July's dividend income of $396.

DivGro's market value increased by 1.3% to $154,728. The increase is due to the addition of $2,791 in fresh capital, which compensated for a small loss of $206.

The portfolio's average yield on cost (YoC) remained the same at 4.39%, while projected monthly dividend income (PMDI) increased to $554 from $528. Payback declined a bit to 5.79%.

I initiated two new positions in July, buying 22 shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and 140 shares of STAG Industrial Inc (NYSE:STAG). Also, I added 38 shares to my position in Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) and received 37 shares of (NYSE:BXLT) when the company spun off from Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX).

Transactions:

• Spin-off
• 2015-07-07: Received 37 spin-off shares of BXLT
• Purchases
• 2015-07-16: Buy 38 shares of QCOM @ $64.43
• 2015-07-29: Buy 140 shares of STAG @ $18.94
• 2015-07-30: Buy 22 shares of AAPL @ $121.98
• Dividends
• 2015-07-01: Cash Dividend Receipt BAX: $19.24
• 2015-07-01: Cash Dividend Receipt PNNT: $60.20
• 2015-07-06: Cash Dividend Receipt NTT: $39.75
• 2015-07-10: Cash Dividend Receipt MO: $39.00
• 2015-07-10: Cash Dividend Receipt PM: $31.00
• 2015-07-15: Cash Dividend Receipt O: $9.50
• 2015-07-15: Cash Dividend Receipt STWD: $52.80
• 2015-07-15: Cash Dividend Receipt VNR: $21.15
• 2015-07-21: Cash Dividend Receipt ACE: $16.08
• 2015-07-29: Cash Dividend Receipt DIS: $17.82
• 2015-07-29: Cash Dividend Receipt GPS: $13.80
• 2015-07-30: Cash Dividend Receipt PMT: $73.20
• Deposits
• 2015-07-21: Passive Income Cash Deposit: $290.79
• 2015-07-29: August Cash Deposit: $2,500.00

Changes in Projected Annual Dividend Income:

• The purchase of 38 QCOM shares added $72.96.
• The purchase of 140 STAG shares added $193.20.
• The purchase of 22 AAPL shares added $45.76.
• WBA's dividend increase added $3.96.
• CMI's dividend increase added $14.82.
• OHI's dividend increase added $5.60.
• COP's dividend increase added $1.52.
• ETP's dividend increase added $8.00.
• NTT's dividend increase added $-8.53.
• Projected annual dividend income (31 July 2015): $6,652.18

Dividend Summary:

• Dividend income last month: $924.28
• Dividend income this month: $393.54
• Total dividend income year-to-date: $3,511.90

Markets:
Source: Yahoo! Finance

Jun 30, 2015	DOW: 17,619.51 S&P 500: 2,063.11 10-YR BOND: 2.33%
Jul 31, 2015	DOW: 17,689.86 S&P 500: 2,103.84 10-YR BOND: 2.21%

In July, the Dow increased 0.40% while the S&P 500 increased 1.97%. In comparison, DivGro dropped 0.9%.

Portfolio: click on the triangle to see a snapshot of DivGro's state on 31 July 2015.

Goals Progress: Below is a chart showing the progress I'm making on my 2015 goals. I'm happy to see that I'm on track or ahead of pace on 5 of my goals. The toughest one remains my weight loss goal, which increasingly looks unlike to attain. I'm not going to give up, though...

July Posts

In July, DivGro's total page views moved past the 280,000 mark. I wrote 11 articles, linked here in order of popularity by page views, in case you missed any of them:

1. Baxter Spins-Off Baxalta – calculating the fair market value of BAX and BXLT for tax basis allocation
2. 6 Dividend Increases, July 13-July 17, 2015 – dividend raises from CMI (25%!), OHI, and COP
3. 10 Dividend Growth Stocks for July 2015 – RS tops the list, followed by GPS and CNQ
4. Added Real Estate Sector To My Watch List – there will be 11 GICS sectors next year
5. 13 Dividend Increases, July 20-July 24, 2015 – ETP announces another increase, this time 1.97%


6. My 3 Loyal Sons: How A Wacky Idea Inspired My Sons To Invest In Stocks – an update!
7. Overdue Dividend Increases – which DivGro holdings are in danger of losing their dividend streak?
8. Monthly Review: June 2015 – a record month for dividend income! 
9. 6 Dividend Increases, June 29-July 10, 2015 – WBA announces a 6.67% increase
10. Quarterly Review, Q2-2015 – my tenth quarterly review of DivGro
11. Recent Buy: Qualcomm Inc – adding to my QCOM position

Looking Ahead: I'm considering selling BAX and BXLT. After the spin off, these are "half" positions and I'm not excited about buying more shares.

I've updated my Performance page with the latest results. It provides a central place for reviewing DivGro's status and performance relative to the markets and to prior months.

Thanks for reading and take care, everybody!