Dividend Investing for me is a long-term strategy. I like to buy great companies at good value based on historical metrics and dividend safety. Hold them for a long time, re-invest dividends and wait for compounding to do its magic. To say Q1 2020 has been volatile is an understatement. Coronavirus has practically brought the world economy to a grinding halt. My heart goes out to all victims of this tragedy and urge every one to practice social distancing. While it has caused a lot of destruction, it also brought down valuations of well managed dividend paying companies to attractive levels. Here is my Q1 2020 quarterly dividend update:
Total: $706.16 for Q1 2020 (up 70% from Q1 2019 & up 20% from Q4 2019 )
Here is a graphical view of the same data:
Check out my and download/make your own dividend tracking sheet here and create awesome graphs as above for free.
My Buys in Q1 2020
So, the volatile market has offered some great opportunities! Frankly speaking I was not a 100% prepared to think about what to buy. I definitely had some stocks in my watch list, but I had not looked at them in a long time. Plus I got busy with a lot of work and so did not get much time to research any new stocks. So, at first I decided to add to my existing open positions which I thought were at attractive valuation. I also added a new stock to my portfolio.
- Added to my position in Abbvie Inc. (ABBV) in 70’s and then again in 60’s. I like their ability to generate cash flows. Allergan acquisition will go through later this year which will add to their earnings and also help them insulate with the upcoming patent expiration for Humira.
- Added to position in A.O. Smith (AOS) in 30’s and low 40’s. They have had issues with revenue drop off in China since 2019. However, I like the safety of their dividend and their expansion in India. Eventually, they should get back to growth in revenues.
- Added to my Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) position. You can read more about my complete research on Cisco Systems here.
- I also added to my position in Disney (DIS). They will definitely have an impact from the shutdown. However, I believe in the long term, Disney will manage to bounce back.
- I added to my position in Kontoor Brands (KTB). Full research here.
- Bought more Pfizer Inc. (PFE) stock. Upcoming spin off should help them focus more on growth and dividend should also be raised faster with growth.
- I also added to my position in Starbucks (SBUX). Crisis will impact revenues for Q1 2020 and Q2 for sure. But, they have been growing their dividend at a very fast rate and should bounce back. They even have a better shot at grabbing market share from local coffee shops around the world, since they will be able to bounce back much faster.
- I also bought more Wells Fargo (WFC) in 30’s & 40’s. Asset cap should get removed some time this year and new CEO should help clean the image of the bank and move past their crisis.
- REIT’s got hammered during this crisis. This gave me an opportunity to grab Realty Income (O) and Store Capital (STOR) at really cheap prices.
- The new stock I added to was Honeywell International (HON). I like their dividend safety & diversity in revenues. They have their hands in aerospace, healthcare, construction technologies, energy etc. A bigger article on this coming up soon.
- For full disclosure, I also bought some VTI. It was at 3% yield which might go down a bit in Q2. However I do not include this in any statistics shown in such updates.
I am projecting a increase to 2947$ in forward annual dividends as compared to 2103$ I made in 2019! I had not expected to be growing dividends so fast in 2020.
My Sells in Q1 2020
- My big sell this quarter was General Mills (GIS). It was in my taxable account and I wanted to free up some cash to move to my Roth account and buy better dividend stocks in there.
- Sold some of my position in National Instruments (NATI) from my taxable account. I just sell some of this position when it becomes too large, to reduce risk of too much of being in 1 stock.
Thoughts about Q2 2020
Upcoming quarter will be very interesting. Most companies will speak about impact of the crisis on their numbers. I am thinking about adding more to positions in PEP and HON for this quarter. Another REIT I am looking at is Monmouth Real Estate Corp. (MNR). Its a REIT that focuses on renting out big industrial properties to investment grade clients. Like, Amazon, Fedex, Coca Cola, IIPR etc. But I am yet to do research on it. I am also going to be looking at dividend cut announcements.So far, many companies have announced them and none of my companies that have cut or suspended their dividends. I am concerned about XOM and STOR, but I have confidence in them bouncing back in long term.
Check out my complete dividend portfolio here.
Click this link for my 2019 Annual dividend income update.
Dividends stocks do come with some risk, but with precautions you can avoid the risky one’s and choose the best dividend paying/growing stocks for your portfolio. I prepared a guide where I discuss some key ratios, fundamentals, some important resources to look at while deciding to buy a dividend stock. Also find out how to get free access to Morningstar, Value Line, workaround paywall behind popular news sites like Seeking Alpha etc. Consider signing up for free instant access to the pdf version of the insights into dividend investing.
