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Dividend Income 2023

2023 Dividend Target £4,200.00 or £350.00 per month

(Equivalent to $5,203.38 or $433.61 per month)

Key dates for 2023 portfolio updates

1, Q1, Dividend income published on Thursday 6th April 2023

2, Full financial year 2022/23 portfolio results were published on Thursday 6th April 2023

3, Q2, Dividend income (Half year) were published on Friday 7th July 2023

4, Q3, Dividend income will be published by Friday 6th October 2023

5, Q4, Full year 2023 portfolio update will be published by Friday 5th January 2024

Q4, Full Year 2023

Now trading has closed the final dividend income totals have been received for the full year 2023.

Please see the chart below demonstrating the year over year income growth.

Total dividend income has surpassed £22,200.78

Total dividend income for 2023 is £4,170.18 (equivalent to £347.51 PCM)

Overall I am pleased with the performance of the portfolio for 2023 even though it was just shy of the monthly target of £350.00 per month income.

The annual target for 2023 was £4,200 so I missed the monthly amount by £2.49 or a total just short of £29.88 however I am pleased with the final results.

Positions added to during the final quarter of 2023 were:

  1. Analog Devices Inc
  2. Hargreaves Lansdown
  3. Unilever

All the above will help with forward income next year provided no dividends are cut. As they say past performance is not guaranteed, income can change at anytime.

Year over year dividend income increased by 12.22% or £454.11 verses 2022.

The chart below  shows the year over year monthly income figures by graph. Apart from a couple of instances where payments where changed from one month to the next we can clearly see an increase month on month with December 2023 now demonstrating the full effects of the slight portfolio reshuffle due to 3M being axed. September 2023 took a slight miss as the Unilever dividend was paid in August and not September otherwise the red bar would have been higher in sept but in this case August was unusually higher.

Overall Dividends Received in 8.4 Years = £22,200.70

The chart below shows the portfolios top 20 holdings and their retrospective weightings.

Further analysis and a full breakdown of 2023’s dividend income can be viewed in the file below:

Q4 was a strong quarter in dividend income with Decembers income was just shy of the £1,000 for the month reaching £965.01.

Overall I was pleased with the results so part of next year’s objectives will be to target some of the strongly quarterly income months to achieve over the £1,000 per month.

Please see the month over month portfolio chart below for a yearly breakdown. You will notice March, June, Sept and December all key quarterly dates. I would like to add other equities that would bring income in outside of these months to smooth out dividends ready for retirement. An area that requires further focus in the coming years.

Thank you for following the blog and reading about my investing and income journey.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for a successful 2024!

Q3 2023

As the third quarter closes and two thirds of 2023 having now being completed, the dividend portfolio is closing in on the set annual target.

Dividend income is up 10.78% year over year or by £291.37 as at the close of September 2023.

Total dividends year to date received is £2,994.25 with the remaining Q4 quarter to follow.

Forward income for the final quarter is estimated to be in the region of £1,164.08. I therefore estimate at year end YOY dividends to have increased around 11.90% or £442.26 verses 2022.

This is just shy of the monthly target of £350 per month, meaning the average monthly figure will be in the region of £346.53.

Having to contend with the issue of a stock reshuffle due to 3M’s litigations and protecting forward income, whilst limiting losses, I will be extremely pleased if the year closes as above.

Please see the file below providing the monthly break down in income.

The reason August is up and Sept is down is that the Unilever dividend was paid earlier this quarter. Should Unilever’s dividend been paid in September then the YOY monthly would had shown a nice increase.

New Positions in the quarter:

With the market consensus not favouring REIT’s (Real Estate Investment Trusts) this has provided further opportunity to increase both wind (TRIG) and solar (NESF) assets to 8,000 shares each. This should increase future quarterly income over time.

A new position has been taken in Diageo purchasing 100 shares due to recent market weakness. The intention in any new positions now is to ensure I focus on companies with strong balance sheets and good brand power. These companies generally have reoccurring revenues from a loyal customer base returning time and time again to their favourite brands. The first dividend is expected in October 2023.

The chart below demonstrates the asset class and allocations per region.

The Chart below shows the increase in renewable investments trusts and Diageo.

As we can clearly see above Shell is overweight in the portfolio, so there is a small sell order set to reduce Shell’s weighting within the portfolio and take some profits. The aim will be to increase US holdings in names like PG, KMB, PEP or technology like increasing ADI or adding a new position in MSFT, should the valuation reduce as its way to frothy at these levels.

Further analysis of the first 9 months dividends can be seen in the file below:

As we can see from the file above, the average monthly is nicely inching towards the £350.00 target.

Happy Investing for Q4 and year end!

Q2 2023 - Half year update

Well the first half of 2023 is over and what a roller coaster of a ride it was. A banking crisis in the US and Europe, then further interest rate rises in an attempt to calm inflation. US inflation is now showing some signs of abating however in UK & Europe where inflation is much higher, there are little signs if any, in price reductions as inflation is far more stubborn for the region.

Year over year dividend income has increased by 14.11% or £248.97.

Total dividend income was £2,008.98 for the first half. This equates to £334.83 per month.

I am slightly behind my annual target as of the close in half year receipts but I am not overly concerned at this point. The portfolio is more about quality and value than hitting an end of year target. Should no equities fall within a fair value price target, then I will just continue building cash ready to deploy on a market pullback.

Please see the first six months of 2023 dividends in the chart below:

During the second quarter increased positions were taken in both TRIG & NESF as my ambition was to hold equal weightings (7,000 shares each) in two renewable Wind & Solar funds. This should lead to increased forward dividends whilst tilting the energy sector within the portfolio towards a more sustainable balance.

A new holding was opened in Analog Devices (ADI) as this equity has a robust balance sheet, low debt and history of returning growing shareholder distributions over the last 19 years. It is only a small holding however one I aim to increase over time or when price targets fall within the set value parameters.

3M was sold due to ongoing legal headwinds over the “Forever Chemical” and Earplug litigations. This is somewhat disappointing but necessary for safeguarding future dividend income. This is just my personal opinion however I think future shareholder distributions may be impacted, only time will tell if I’ve made the right call.

Available cash has increased to over 6.3%.

For the full dividend analysis received, please see the file below:

Due to the recent portfolio reshuffle portfolio weightings can be viewed in the file below:

As you can see above UK equities are now much higher due to the recent increases of shares for the two renewable Investment Trusts. Therefore any new equities within the portfolio will be focused on international shares to even up global diversification.

The chart below includes the Investment Trusts (Non Classified) demonstrating that UK equities are not as heavily weighted as the chart above. Therefore it should only take approximately a 10% increase in international equities to balance equity diversification.

There will be a focus on technology if and when a decent pull back occurs. The reason behind the portfolio is so underweight technology is only due to the extremely high valuations across the sector. Any opportunity will be to increase ADI and take new positions in AAPL, MSFT, AVGO or ASML.

Should there be no tech pullback then other favoured stocks like KMB, PEP, MDLZ, GIS, or PG are all new possible targets provided they fall within their set value price parameters.

The chart below has been provided to show a little more depth in sector allocation showing technology is under weight to other sectors.

Until the end of September Happy Investing & have a great summer!

2022/23 Financial year end results

Year end financial results for 2022/23 from the total dividend income is £3,878.38 or £323.20 per month.

This is an annual increase of 21.94% YOY which equates to an additional £697.91

Portfolio Dividend yield is 4.34%

Sterlings weakness has had some bearing on these numbers, slightly increasing international dividends received.

Please see the chart below for the year over year performance.

Total dividend income has now crossed £19,070.30 so the next goal is to reach £20,000.

As we can see from the above chart the average monthly income has increased to £323.19 (£265.04 – 2021/22).

Diversification is key especially due to the current market volatility and the tightening of lending from banks. The market consensus is that we are heading into a recession. Higher interest rates and the tightening of liquidity will no doubt bring about a slow down, but to what extent know one knows.

Therefore we have to be extra careful when selecting new equities. The focus is on high quality stocks at reasonable valuations, this is key in continuing to build a successful long term portfolio.

In truth I am waiting for a market pull back to add some quality tech names. Certain tech company multiples are extremely high at this present time so we are sitting on 3% cash to deploy when the time is ready.

The portfolio is positioned defensively which has just occurred naturally from simply selecting high quality consumer, healthcare & energy stocks.

Consumer stocks tend to have sticky recurring revenues, cashflows and distribute dividends like Coca-Cola, Unilever, PZ Cussons.

There is also an energy play I have been building over the last few years, once again with the reoccurring revenues & dividends in both old oil and new renewables.

Healthcare is considered defensive with holdings in Glaxosmithkline, Bristol Myers Squibb & now Haleon. Again certain healthcare stocks can be viewed as reliable dividend plays.

The chart below demonstrates the total portfolio split which UK includes the breakdown of investment trusts.

The chart below demonstrates the portfolio weightings per sector.

The next file below shows the top 20 holdings and the UK / international split in equities.

As the portfolio matures the aim is to have a higher level in global diversification. The intention will be to add more European, US and Asian equities.

Further dividend analysis for the entire financial year can be seen in the file below:

Q1 2023 Quarterly update

The first quarter of the year has started reasonably well despite the market turmoil and fall out from the US & Swiss banking issues affecting the markets.

Year over year quarterly dividend income is up 18.84% which is trending inline to Q1-2021/22 increases.

There was an increase in income of £159.05 for the quarter, with the quarter surpassing £1,003.39 for the first time.

Average monthly income stands at £334.46 which is progressing nicely towards the target of £350.00 per month.

Dividend increases helped from the equities below:

  • BP
  • Big Yellow
  • Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Cisco
  • Coca-Cola
  • Shell
  • 3M
  • Unilever
  • Hargreaves Lansdown

Increasing holdings during 2022 of 3M, NESF combined with the addition of HL to the portfolio all contributed to the 18.84% YOY increase.

Please see the chart below for the first three months of 2023.

The cash position is 3% and we are actively seeking new holdings.

Q1 I purchased an additional 500 shares of PZ Cussons (PZC) which should follow through to forward income at a dividend yield of 3.48%.

Q2 intention is to increase positions in HL to 300 shares and NESF to 6,000 shares.

Diversification is key during the coming months due to market the volatility, therefore the theme within the portfolio is to add new positions. We like AAPL, MSFT but not at the current PE multiples of 24.5 & 26.5 respectively. When the market pulls back I aim to add at least one of these stocks to the portfolio.

Happy Investing for value stocks during Q2 2023!

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