No relief once again in the markets. The two sectors that have kept my portfolio balance steady all year (Healthcare & Utilities) finally cracked as utility stocks lead the declines in the market for the week and bringing my portfolio down significantly. Here are my trades for the week:
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF– increased position – Every week seems to yield a new 52 week low. Grabbed 7 shares @ $66.77 and a 3.7% yield.
CTO Realty Growth (CTO) – increased position – Their properties escaped any major damage from Hurricane Ian. Grabbed 5 shares @ $18.40 and a 8.26% yield
Allete Inc. (ALE) – increased position – Share price cratered on continued rate hike fears for this utility company. Grabbed 4 shares @ $51.27 and a 5.07% yield.
It was Ford’s turn for bad earnings and guiding lower to start the week off on a market sell off and even though everyone knew a 75bps rate hike was coming markets still tanked Wednesday afternoon and it got uglier from there for the week. If share prices stay like this I might hit my end of year dividend income target with ease. Here are my trades for the week:
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) – increased position – They raised the divvy 9.68%. Grabbed 1 share @ $241.26 and a 1.13% yield.
United Parcel Service (UPS) – increased position – The FedEx effect really brought this down. Grabbed 2 shares @ $164.21 and a 3.7% yield
Medical Properties Trust (MPW) – increased position – Share price is trading in the same range as it was in 2014 and is currently below book value per share of 14.80. Grabbed 14 shares @ $12.65 and a 9.17% yield.
Hasbro Inc. (HAS) – increased position – Possible sale of their eOne business makes this interesting. Grabbed 1 share @ $75.23 and a 3.72% yield.
Packaging Corp. of America (PKG) – increased position – Oversupply worries led to a downgrade for entire sector, short term pain for long term gain. Grabbed 1 share @ $117.90 and a 4.24% yield.
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) – increased position – New 52 week low motivated me for another buy. Grabbed 57 shares @ $67.55 and a 3.68% yield
Organon & Company (OGN) – increased position – This Merck spin-off became cheap enough I could not ignore. Grabbed 2 shares @ $26.05 and a 4.3% yield.
Independent Bank Corp (IBCP)– increased position – Scrapped together the last of my cash position for one last small buy. Grabbed 1 share @ $19.67 and a 4.47% yield
Market did not like the inflation report and prices dropped even more. S&P 500 has been trading sideways since May , wonder if it will trend like this until the end of the year. Here are my trades for the week:
CTO Realty Growth Inc. (CTO) – increased position – They raised the divvy 12% in May and just gave out another 1.8% raise at the end of August . Grabbed 5 shares @ $19.97 and a 7.61% yield.
Fastenal (FAST) – increased position – Started a small position years ago but share price sky rocketed and never added to it. Grabbed 1 share @ $47.50 and a 2.61% yield
Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) – increased position – Their aerospace segment should see improvement. Grabbed 1 share @ $89.18 and a 3.27% yield.
Hasbro Inc. (HAS) – increased position – Possible sale of their eOne business makes this interesting. Grabbed 1 share @ $79.90 and a 3.5% yield.
Packaging Corp. of America (PKG) – increased position – Still slowly building out this position a couple shares at a time. Grabbed 2 shares @ $134.15 and a 3.73% yield.
Oil-Dri Corp. of America (ODC) – increased position – Inflation has not been kind to ODC. Grabbed 2 shares @ $25.71 and a 4.36% yield.
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) – increased position – Adding to my new position while this sits near 52 week lows. Grabbed 7 shares @ $70.58 and a 3.44% yield.
The market doom and gloom experts have been out in force this week. Lost count of how many negative articles I have seen. Markets go up & down, I know and respect the risks. When someone shows me a doom & gloom article my only response is “And?“, conversation gets pretty quiet after that LOL. It’s part of the cycle, deal with it. As long as I see value in something I’ll buy it regardless of the market. Here are my trades for the week:
CTO Realty Growth Inc. (CTO) – increased position – They raised the divvy 12% in May and just gave out another 1.8% raise at the end of August . Grabbed 15 shares @ $20.19 and a 7.53% yield.
After 35 years of clocking in and out of work and religiously saving at least 10% annually in my 401K every year, my countdown to financial independence is in sight. Each month is a step closer and let’s look at how this past month is getting me there.
For the month of August I made $2963.55; an increase of 12.19% versus this time last year. The gain is a bit illusionary as 2 normal July payouts slipped to August this year and without those the YoY difference is a gain of just 13 cents or essentially a 0% gain. The AT&T dividend cut was the reason for miniscule growth.
In August I received 1 dividend raises from FAF and 1 reinstated dividend for GM. Together this will add an additional $67.49 to my annual income going forward. Thankfully the dog days of a dividend raise summer are over and raises begin to pick up in September. Overall August was a weird month for the portfolio as I saw my portfolio rise to a YTD gain of 2.4% by mid August but by the end of August it came back down and is now at a YTD loss of 6.8%.
On the family front my father-in-law passed away after a 9 month battle in nursing homes. He was just a few weeks away from turning 90 so he led a long life. Even though we knew it was coming it was still emotional. I was absent from the blogging world for a few weeks because of this, some things are just more important.
Meanwhile my middle daughter (who just graduated college) decided to move out into her own apartment. I give me children the option to live at home for 3 years to build up savings but she wanted independence. She has always had an “act first – think later” attitude so I think this will be good for her as she learns more from experiences than advice. Thankfully her apartment was on a first floor so I didn’t have to heft any heavy furniture up flights of stairs.
Just a smidge over three weeks since I last bought a stock. Markets fell back to earth this week and I opened my wallet once again. Here are my trades for the week:
Packaging Corp. of America (PKG) – increased position – Finally dropped from the 140 range. Grabbed 1 share @ $135.13 and a 3.7% yield.
Best Buy (BBY) – increased position – Caught this near the low for the week. Grabbed 2 shares @ $69.82 and a 5.04% yield.
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) – increased position – Adding to my new position while this sits near 52 week lows. Grabbed 6 shares @ $72.22 and a 3.35% distribution yield.
Medical Properties Trust (MPW) – increased position – Less than 15/share, what is not to like. Grabbed 6 shares @ $14.36 and a 8.08% yield.
Simple Dividend Growth 