Portfolio Update: April Dividends Up By Ten Percent

The last of my April dividends hit the account on Monday, allowing me to update the DGI For The DIY portfolio spreadsheet and see the progress made in the portfolio.

Here are the final income numbers for the month, along with a comparison to 2016’s totals:

The portfolio saw a 10% increase in dividend income over 2016 totals. This increase comes from a combination of organic dividend increases, reinvestment of dividends, and purchases made over the last year.

The biggest percentage increase came from EOG Resources Inc., which was the result of the purchase of more shares in the company in May of 2016.

The biggest increase in income was from Watsco Inc., which paid me an additional $1.46 year over year. This was due to a 23.5% dividend increase announced last July, as well as reinvestment of dividends that resulted in more shares owned.

Another point I’d like to make is the power that compounding dividends has on income growth. Case in point is Chatham Lodging Trust, which shows a 6.7% increase over 2016’s numbers. This is completely due to dividend reinvestment, as the company hasn’t had a dividend increase in over a year.

Similarly, dividends received by Realty Income were up 10.4% while the actual payout rate was up only 6.3%. Compounding of dividends is a powerful force!

Dividend Income History

Moving to the big picture, here is the dividend progress in the portfolio since its inception in 2013.

As you can see, April is one of the weaker months for dividend income, as it is lower than February and March, and also lags the January totals.

The reason for the drop from January is Digital Realty Trust, which has an odd schedule that pays out dividends in January and March rather than every 3 months that is typical. This has an effect on the December total as well, as the payment shift to January causes a drop in December vs. September totals.

Of course, in the grand scheme none of that really matters to the success of the portfolio, it is just an interesting dynamic I’ve noticed while tracking the income.

Q1 Portfolio Review

If you missed the overall update for the portfolio, including my commentary on moves made during Q1, weighting of positions by sector, and stocks on my watch list for future consideration, please check out DGI For The DIY: Q1 2017 Review on Seeking Alpha.

Additionally, if you are interested in the story behind the “DGI For The DIY” portfolio, head over to my DGI Portfolio page. There you will find some history behind my transition to dividend growth investing, a real-time spreadsheet of my current holdings, and links to all quarterly updates published since its inception.

Looking Ahead

The portfolio is off to a great start thus far in 2017, with double-digit dividend increases announced by Gilead Sciences, Ross Stores, Ameriprise Financial, Watsco, and Apple.

Additionally, fourteen other companies in the portfolio have also announced higher payouts, which will drive my income still higher over the rest of the year.

How has your year been going so far? I’d love to hear feedback on what stocks have treated you to higher dividends. Leave a comment below, and let me know!

Happy Investing!