One of our fundamental income streams is our dividend portfolio. Typically, it does not require any maintenance except for the rare sell of a position, but more often, it is either adding to the existing positions or buying new dividend-paying stocks. In this update, we describe having sold one of our holdings, bought one new stock, and increased positions in ten companies.
Math is a great science that deals with the logic of shape, quantity, and arrangement. Math is all around us and in everything we do. It is the building block for everything in our daily lives, and almost everything can be calculated with the power of math. You can identify the best soccer player by checking the statistics on how many goals he scored and how many assists he had. In applying the magic of math to stocks, we use our simple steps to select dividend stocks. Sometimes the best soccer teams lose, and similarly, some of our dividend-paying stock picks do not deliver (i.e., cut their dividends).
Sold Holdings
In the first half of 2018, only one of our holdings cut its dividend. Cominar REIT (CUF.UN) reduced its dividend by 45 percent in March. We rely on passive income from our income streams, and any dividend cut puts us at risk of not having enough passive income in the future. This is just one of the reasons why we sell equities that reduce their dividends.
Dividend stocks are great while the payouts last, but if payments are cut or eliminated, investors may be stuck with an investment that no longer has any appeal. Naturally, if a stock has had to reduce its payouts because of an unfavorable situation, it usually means the company has been performing poorly. So, when a dividend is reduced or cut, an investor is left not only with a lower dividend but also with a poor-performing stock.
Monthly payments of $0.1225 were reduced in September to $0.095 because the company wanted to keep its cash payout ratio under 90 percent.
The REIT has gone through remarkable changes in the past couple of years. These changes include selling its non-core assets and cutting or reducing its dividends twice. Even though its debt ratio and dividend payout ratio have improved remarkably, improbability still remains because there will be more dispositions in 2018 and in the future.
Enough about bad-performing assets. The asset has been sold. Let’s talk about the assets that perform well.
Increased Holdings
We added twenty-six shares to our position of sixteen stocks in Boeing (BA). The company increased its dividend by 20 percent in December 2017 and was fueled by improved financial valuations. Relatively low oil prices mean cheaper airfare, which makes flying attractive to more people, thus increasing the need for more aircraft. Plus, the financial strength of the company was exposed in its dividend hike, and the last financial report makes us very happy to be investors in this business. What are the chances that another company starts making aircraft? Almost zero.
We bought forty-two shares of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM), increasing our holding to ninety-seven shares. This purchase aims to yield enough dividends to buy one share upon every distribution. With one additional share purchased with DRIP on July distribution, we now own ninety-eight shares. CM is one of the top Canadian banks. We like the Canadian financial sector, and this is our biggest sector, at around 30 percent, in our dividend portfolio. All of our other holdings in this sector have already been enrolled for DRIP, and now it is time for CM to follow its predecessors in the portfolio.
Canadian National Railway (CNR) has the advantage of being a stable, dividend-growth railway stock. We bought 140 shares of CNR to have enough shares for the DRIP, one share for every distribution. Our assumption is that railways will be in use for a long time for heavy item transportation. Company valuations like low payout ratio (around 30 percent) and continuous dividend increases over time, plus the advantage of having rails net, which is a huge barrier for competitors to enter this market, put this stock in a strong position in our dividend portfolio. Sometimes, when I am fishing on a lake and I see a CN locomotive passing by in beautiful British Columbia, I share my thoughts about this investment with my fellow fisherman and tell him that I earn money while we have been fishing.
Dream Global Real Estate Investment Trust (DRG.UN) is a growth-oriented real estate investment trust. One hundred and fifty shares of Dream Global have been added to our dividend portfolio. This business, along with paying dividends, added capital gains of more than 50 percent. We like such businesses and gladly increase our holdings in them.
One hundred shares of New Residential Investment Corp (NRZ) have been added to our position of 200 shares. We have held this company since 2016, and this is one of our best performers. Now it is yielding 11.09 percent and seems like an attractive, high-income opportunity. NRZ invests in high-yield residential mortgage-related assets that offer steady, long-term yields. Everyone likes a juicy dividend!
New Position
We bought 200 shares of H&R REIT (HR.UN). We sold Cominar REIT but would like to keep our exposure to REITs; therefore, we replaced Cominar with H&R REIT. Usually, the REIT dividend yield is higher than the yield of non-REIT companies, but the dividend hikes are more moderate. At the time of purchase, the yield was 6.75 percent.
DRIP Two Shares
We are content with the performance of the following companies; therefore, we increased their holdings in our dividend portfolio to allow a DRIP of two shares upon every distribution:
- Emera Inc (EMA) 30 shares
- TransCanada Corporation (TRP) 88 shares
- AT&T (T) 40 shares
- Canadian Utilities (CU) 40 shares
- BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) 50 shares
Dividend Portfolio Stats
Our portfolio dividend yield is 4.02 percent, and buying the same portfolio today will yield 3.43 percent. The difference in yield comes from dividend hikes of companies that we hold in our portfolio for more than a year and proves the statement “Focus on time in the market, not market timing“.
Conclusion
We aim to hold companies that sustain their distributions, thus providing us with reliable passive income in the future. Most likely, dividend-paying stocks with the best financial stats will continue to show their strength and benefit their shareholders—us.
In 2017 we sold our position in Dream Office Real Estate Investment Trust (D.UN), and this year we sold another REIT. We will be more selective in choosing REITs.
Dividends income stream is passive income, and your bank accounts are filled with new distributions on a monthly and quarterly basis.
Lot of people know to earn money while they are fishing or seating on the beach, but they are not boasting to all surrounding people and community about their creativity.
Slava, thank you so much for your feedback. Allincomestream is always welcoming new ideas and creative ways to make passive income. I would really like to hear more from your ideas and help others to bring them to life.
Allincomestream thank you for continuous training and adequate knowledge. It’s great to follow , easy to understand and fun to implement. Good work !!!
Jessica thank you for reading.
Hi AllIncomeStream,
Iam a dividend investor who is a little over 30 and I want to thank you for quality posting
I have made a blog site similar to your to keep tracking my divindend its in English and i invest also in Us one of my stocks are Boeing i belive there are going to be ever more aircrafts in the future to connect the world 🙂
Would be nice if you check it out for feedbacks its fresh but i will be making it better :=)
Greetings from Sweden
Hi Swedendivin, Thank you for stopping by. It looks like we share the same financial philosophy.
“Prices fluctuate more than values—so therein lies opportunity.” – Joel Greenblatt
“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” –Warren Buffett
“Money won’t create success, freedom to make it will.” – Nelson Mandela
wow solid work!
That is a tonne of new additions so far this yr. I love that 150 extra cnr stocks. That is huge! Were you lucky enough to buy them at the 90$ mark?
dream global looks good as well. i have thought of starting a position in them.
keep it up!
Thanks Rob. I bought CNR at 94$. Following your post I started a position of 85 shares in QSR this week. Cheers.