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. Most countries are trying to open their economies and putting COVID in rearview mirror. However, cases in most places are increasing. A US election is also looming which could cause wild swings in the market. Despite all this, Q3 2020 just saw the market going up and up backed by the ever growing tech stocks. However I haven’t changed my plan at all. I am planning to keep buying stocks and ETF’s. Here is my Q3 2020 quarterly dividend update:
Total: $753 for Q3 2020 (up 28% from Q3 2019 & up 3.5% from Q2 2020)
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.
I recently added a new chart to my dividend tracking sheet. It allows me to see my dividends grow over long term. I have been tracking my dividends for last 3 years. Here is the result so far till Q3 2020.
As you can see, dividends have kept on growing month after month, year after year for almost 3 years now! You can see the dividends compounding very clearly in this graph.
My Buys in Q3 2020
I added to my existing open positions which I thought were at attractive valuation. I also added a new stock to my portfolio.
- Added very little to my Abbvie(ABBV) position.
- Added to my Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) position. You can read more about my complete research on Cisco Systems here.
- I added to my position in Kontoor Brands (KTB). They had a better quarter than the last one. Plus the management is planning to give an update on the dividend reinstatement at end of Q3. This is still a long term hold for me. Full research here. I also started selling covered calls for income on side using my KTB position.
- Bought some more in Monmouth Real Estate Corp. (MNR). This is a REIT that is focused on industrial properties. They only have investment grade clients like FDX, AMZN, KO, HD, RTX etc. They even collected 98-99% rent during the last 3 months. Bought some at starting yields of 6.9 % and then added a bit more during the quarter.
- I also added to my position in Store Capital (STOR). Its a REIT company that rents individual standing real estate properties to a variety of tenants. They collected only 68% of rent in April but it has increase to 86% in last month. They also did not cut dividends during this time which bodes well for them.
- Added to my position in Wells Fargo (WFC) in 20 & 30’s.
- I added to my position to V F Corp (VFC). They have not yet cut any dividends. Plus historically VFC has been a very acquisitive company and have a very long history of paying dividends.
- Also added to my position to VTI. Not as much as I should have, but I will continue doing this.
I am projecting an increase to 2900$ in forward annual dividends as compared to 2103$ I made in 2019!
My Sells in Q3 2020
NONE! I hope to continue doing this. The less I touch my portfolio, more time it gets for compounding and growing.
Thoughts about Q4 2020
Upcoming quarter will have Q3 earnings from most companies in my portfolio. We also have the US elections coming up at the end of the year. Elections have historically not been the best year for returns. Seeing as we are already positive so far this year, it will be interesting to see how much volatility we have in the last quarter. I know one thing for sure: I will keep buying stocks and ETF’s during this quarter.
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.
