Recent Buy - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

Wow the markets have been taking a beating here lately and there's some stocks out there looking pretty cheap. The market volatility coupled with some troubling company headwinds are hitting some stocks extra hard. GSK is certainly not immune to such troubles as the stock has been suffering from slowing sales, job cuts and skepticism about the Novartis deal. Rumors about a takeover are looming but nothing more than rumors at this point. All of this has pulled the stock down to the low $40's and a juicy near 6% yield so I thought I'd average down a bit here.

I have a feeling I may make another purchase this month and I have my eye on a few names including IBM, BBL, T, KMI, CVX, and XOM. Hopefully Santa is good to me so I can get some shares while there's a fire sale! :-o

I purchased 29 shares of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) @ $42.39

GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) is a British multinational pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company which has its headquarters in Brentford, London. As of March 2014, it was the world's sixth-largest pharmaceutical company. GSK is engaged in the creation and discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and health-related consumer products. GSK’s principal pharmaceutical products include medicines in therapeutic areas: respiratory, anti-virals, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, antibacterials, oncology and emesis, dermatology, rare diseases, immuno-inflammation, vaccines and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The Company operates in three primary areas of business: Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare.

GSK Stock Chart

 

GIS Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: GSK
• PE Ratio: 14.3
• Yield: 5.94%
• Payout Ratio: 90%
• Market cap: $99b
• Beta: 0.86
• Website: http://www.gsk.com

GSK Dividend Growth

Note the crazy dividend is due to currency fluctuations but the trend is upwards at around 6.5% in the past 5 yrs.

Recent Buys From Fellow Dividend Investors (November)

It's been a while since I did my last roundup of recent stock purchases from fellow bloggers so I thought now was a good time to do another especially after Dividend Elephant reminded me about it. I figured that this time around would be particularly interesting with energy stocks reaching some attractive valuations. This time around I tracked recent purchases from 31 other dividend growth bloggers for the past month or so. Most of these bloggers can be found in my blogroll or my blog list in my right sidebar. There were dozens of purchases made and I have omitted stocks with only a single purchase. You can see the results below.

Above you can see the number of bloggers who have purchased each stock since November 1st. Multiple purchases from the same blogger are not represented.

   Without knowing anything more than just looking at this chart one might guess that something has caused energy stocks to take a beating. Clearly the price of oil dropping and the recent OPEC decision to continue oil production going has caused some weakness in the sector at least temporarily. Many investors are seeing value in oil stocks like COP, CVX and BP. This is the third roundup I've done so far and usually there is one stock that stands out but this time BBL really is head and shoulders above the rest in terms of buys recently. Investors like Dividend Mantra, Write Your Own Reality, Pollie's Dividend and Lanny at Dividend Diplomats all saw value here. I made a blog post back in August about the Top 40 Stocks held by dividend growth investors and BBL was at the very bottom of the list back then. I think that list would look quite a bit different if I did it again today.

   At the top of my last roundup was ARCP, TGT and AFL and it looks like all but TGT made the list again this time around. Also missing from this months list is KMI, GE, CLX and PG.

For more information about recent buys be sure to visit A Frugal Family's Journey for a more comprehensive list which also helped me put this together.


Full Disclosure: I currently own shares of UL, CVX, KRFT, KO, PEP, and WMT.

November Dividend Update

It's time to report on my November dividend income and I'm pleased to announce that this is a new record month for me!  This months total was $239.56 which is a 4.9% increase over the $227.68 I earned last quarter. It was also a 19% improvement over last year in November. Can't wait till next month !

   Looking forward here to my next purchase, I haven't settled on what I'm going to buy quite yet. I know a lot of my fellow bloggers have been scooping up energy stocks after the OPEC decision came through. I may follow in their footsteps. I actually thought I was quite overweight on energy stocks but I never actually crunched the numbers to see for sure. It turns out energy is around 13% of my portfolio so I think I can still squeeze in some more purchases while there's a 'fire sale' in the sector. Right now I'm focused on a few stocks including IBM, GSK, CVX and BBL. What do you guys think ?

November 2014 Purchases

• General Mills (GIS) - 23 shares @ $50.89

 

November Dividend Increases

•  Kinder Morgan (KMI) - From .43 to .44 ( a 2.3% increase )

 

November 2014 Dividend Income

• AT&T (T) - $45.08
• General Mills (GIS) - $22.55
• WGL Holdings (WGL) - $29.04
• Clorox (CLX) - $14.06
• Tompkins Financial (TMP) - $10.92
• Reality Income (O) - $18.31
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - $21.88
• Peoples United Financial (PBCT) - $36.80
• Kinder Morgan (KMI) - $40.92

Total Dividends For November: - $239.56

Recent Buy - General Mills (GIS)

Wow, it seems like I just bought Unilever and here I am again purchasing another consumer giant General Mills (GIS). General Mills really needs no introduction if your like me and grew up eating Cheerios and Trix cereal. While I enjoy their cereals in the morning I really love their dividend more. Sporting a juicy dividend that's over 3% and impressive dividend growth over the past 10 years making it a dividend champion. GIS has a payout ratio around 60% which leaves some room for growth and the PE ratio is a bit over 19 but forward PE is 16.80 which is more inline with it's peers.


I purchased 23 shares of GIS at $50.89

General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products and headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Golden Valley, Minnesota. The company markets many well-known North American brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totino's, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Trix, and Lucky Charms. Its brand portfolio includes more than 89 other leading U.S. brands and numerous category leaders around the world.

GIS Stock Chart

GIS Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: GIS
• PE Ratio: 19.24
• Yield: 3.18%
• Payout Ratio: 59%
• Market cap: $31b
• Beta: 0.61
• Website: http://www.generalmills.com

GIS Dividend Growth

October Dividend Update

It's time to report on my October dividend income. October along with Jan, Apr and July have always been my smallest months in terms of dividend income and this quarter is no different, however I made some purchases that would bring these months up a bit closer to my other months. Those two were Coke Cola (KO) and Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) and they helped me bust through the $200 mark with ease. This months total was $213.12 which is quite a bit up from the $179.34 last quarter. This was partially due to Walmart's dividend falling in June rather than July. It's still a nice improvement over what would have been a sub $200 month even if Walmart's dividend fell in July. This was at 45% improvement over last year in October. Can't wait till next month !

October 2014 Purchases

• Unilever (UL) - 26 shares @ $39.09

October 2014 Dividend Income

• Coke Cola (KO) - $18.61
• Glasko Smith Kline (GSK) - $14.91
• Altria (MO) - $49.40
• Piedmont natural Gas (PNY) - $41.60
• Realty Income (O) - $18.31
• Hatteras Financial Company (HTS) - $27.50
• Sysco (SYY) - $19.14
• Kraft (KRFT) - $23.65

Total Dividends For October: - $213.12

Recent Buy - Unilever

It's that time again where I make my monthly stock purchase. This time around I chose Unilever (UL). The markets had really been in a free fall for the last week or two but I never had the funds available to make a purchase till now. A bunch of stocks were looking cheap or at least cheaper. I had my eye on a few stocks including T, GSK, GE and ARCP to name a few but the markets started to recover and I thought I may miss out on some good deals.

Then Unilever posted earnings and the market didn't like what it heard citing slowing growth. Unilever got slammed pretty hard for a couple of days and I watched the price drop from over $41 to under $39. My brokerage account now had sufficient funds to make my minimum purchase so I placed my order.

I purchased 26 shares of UL at $39.09

A top maker of packaged consumer goods worldwide, Unilever products are sold in more than 190 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North America, and Western Europe. The company's offerings span several categories, including savory, dressings, and spreads; ice cream and beverages; personal care; and home care. Unilever's portfolio boasts a dozen brands that each ring up more than €1 billion annually. Best sellers include Hellmann's (mayonnaise), Knorr (soups), Lipton (tea), Dove and Lux (soaps), and Sunsilk (hair care). Unilever is the operating arm of Netherlands-based Unilever N.V. and UK-based Unilever PLC.

 

UL Stock Chart

 UL Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: UL
• PE Ratio: 17.15
• Yield: 3.88%
• Payout Ratio: 61%
• Market cap: $112b
• Beta: 0.88
• Website: http://www.unilever.com

UL Dividend Growth

September Dividend Update

It's time to report on my September dividend income. It looks like a new record once again! We shattered the previous record by a whopping 3 cents thanks to those small monthly dividend increases from Reality Income (O). :-)  So pretty much not much has happened since last quarter since I've made no purchases and received no dividend increases for this quarter other than Realty Income's


September 2014 Purchases

• Tompkins Financial (TMP) - 26 shares @ $44.50

September 2014 Dividend Income

• Chevron (CVX) - $57.78
• Universal Health Realty Trust (UHT) - $31.50
• McDonalds - $28.35
• Pepsi (PEP) - $28.17
• Avista (AVA) - $18.42
• Realty Income (O) - $18.28
• Lorillard (LO) - $21.88
• Walmart (WMT) - $16.32
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - $11.90

Total Dividends For August: - $227.94

Gold Resource Corporation Reports September Monthly Dividend

Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE: GORO) announced its monthly instituted dividend of $0.01 per stock for the month of September, which is payable to investors on October 23, 2014. September's monthly dividend report marks GORO's milestone of returning more than 100 million cash dividends to shareholders since its public production in 2010.

As of September 2014, the company has paid 51 consecutive dividends per month to its investors.

"We reached a major milestone for a junior precious metal producer now having returned over one hundred million dollars back to the owners of the Company, its shareholders, in just over four years," said Jason Reid, the president and CEO of Gold Resource Corporation. "This achievement is not only rare for a junior miner, but coupled with our conversion program allowing shareholders to convert cash dividends to physical gold and silver, is unique to this industry. Both the level of dividends and the cash to physical metal conversion option underscore management's shareholder friendly and focused philosophy. We remain committed to monthly dividends and the physical conversion option not only during these current volatile metal markets, but look forward to the future when hopefully the bull market in the metals space returns."

The cash dividend conversion that Reid is talking about is GORO’s “Double Eagle” program that allows investors to receive .999 fine gold or silver coins as part of their dividend payout. It is a unique way to get exposure in gold, since investors can mix their dividends with cash and precious metals. In an article by BullionVault, Herve Hannoun of Banque de France points out that gold remains an important investment today, even if it’s not an interest-bearing asset, because of three things: security, liquidity, and diversification.

GORO’s dividends vary in amount and regularity, and can be ceased at the Board of Directors’ judgment.

About Gold and Resource Corporation

Gold Resource Corporation is a gold mining company with projects that feature low-operational costs and high investment returns. Its main focus is on cash flow, with priority on dividends for investors and owners of the company. It has a total of 54,179,369 shares outstanding and no warrants. The company is currently exploring new mining deposits at its Oaxaca Mining Unit located in Southern Mexico.


*** The opinions, representations and statements made within this guest article are those of the author and not of CaptainDividend.com as a whole. Any copyright remains with the author and any liability with regard to infringement of intellectual property rights remain with them. I accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. ***

Recent Buy - Tompkins Financial (TMP)

It that time again where I make my monthly stock purchase. These monthly purchases started out as monthly purchases but are now getting close to every 3 weeks as my dividends help boost me over my $1000 minimum purchase total faster and faster.

This time I have decided to purchase a small bank called Tompkins Financial. Most of you may have never heard of this little bank but it is a dividend champion with 27 years of dividend raises. The company has been around for over 170 years and operates over 65 banks in the north eastern United States.

I was torn between buying more General Mills (GIS) and starting a position in Tompkins Financial (TMP) since both have been on a bit of a downtrend lately. Ultimately I went with TMP simply for more diversity.

A curious thing happened with my order at my brokerage. My purchase price was $44.50 which was actually higher than the daily range of the stock price over the entire trading day. The trading range went from $44.12 - $44.44 which I checked on a few sites. I have no idea how my brokerage managed to execute my order so poorly and even if it did go through shouldn't the daily range been at least $44.50 on the high range ? It wasn't a premarket order or anything like that, just a limit order which I wish I set a tad lower. Not a big deal but I've never seen that before.

Edit: I contacted my broker to find out more about the trade and they cleared things up for me. Turns out that unless the transaction is at least 100 shares it will not be reflected in the daily trading range. Makes me wonder what the daily trading ranges really are in some stocks.

TMP Stock Chart

TMP Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: TMP
• PE Ratio: 12.5
• Yield: 3.6%
• Dividend Growth 5yr:  6%
• Payout Ratio: 43%
• Market cap: $654m
• Website: http://www.tompkinsfinancial.com

TMP Dividend Growth

August Dividend Update

It's time to report on my August dividends and I nearly had my highest dividend total ever at $227.68 which just barely missed beating my June number by 23 cents. My recent purchase of KMI (pre merger news) helped bolster my income as did a couple of dividend raises that I've listed below.

August Dividend Increases

Kinder Morgan (KMI) - From .42 to .43 +2.3%
Clorox (CLX) - From .71 to .74 +4.2%

(The low growth in KMI is misleading as they tend to increase dividends multiple times per year.)

August Purchases

• Coca Cola (KO) - 20 shares @ $39.38

August 2014 Dividend Income

• AT&T (T) - $45.08
• General Mills (GIS) - $22.55
• WGL Holdings - $29.04
• Clorox (CLX) - $14.06
• Realty Income (O) - $18.28
• Kinder Morgan (KMI) - $39.99
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - $21.88
• Peoples United Financial  (PBCT) - $36.80

Total Dividends For August: $227.68

Looks like I've got that chart back on the right track after a weak July.

Top 40 Stocks Held By DGI Bloggers

I've always wondered what the most widely held dividend stocks are. Which names appeal to investors the most or at least to DGI (Dividend Growth Investors) like myself. So I thought I'd do a bit of investigative work. Pretty simply I counted up all of the positions held by my fellow dividend investors that are in my blogroll. Most of them have a link to their portfolios somewhere linked on their blogs which allowed me to see exactly what stocks they are holding at the moment. Then I just tallied up all of the names (and there was a lot) accordingly. As you can see there are a lot of familiar names.

Here I present to you the Top 40 dividend stocks held by my fellow DGI (Dividend Growth Investor) bloggers like me....

What do you think of the list? Do any of the stocks surprise you that they are that high or low ? There's some great names that didn't make the Top 40 as well. Companies like Visa (V), Caterpillar (CAT), Southern Company (SO) ,and Walgreens (WAG) didn't make the cut.

Liebster Award Nomination

 

 

 

 I've been nominated for a Liebster award from Ferdis over at DivGro and I'd like to thank him for thinking of me for the award! The Liebster award is a really neat way to get followers to connect with other blogs with similar content. It follows similar principles as a chain letter, in the sense that it should be passed forward to a certain number of people (in this case 5).  You just answer the questions posed by the nominator and then you nominate other blogs and ask them to answer 5 other questions of your own. So here goes ....

 

Here are the 5 questions DivGro asked of me:

 

1 - What is your favorite vacation destination?

 

I don't travel much at all but I have been to a few places like Colorado and Florida most recently but I think I'd love to go to Hawaii. That would be a beautiful place to visit, just not when a hurricane hits !

 2 - What is your favorite movie and why ?

This is a toughie for me, there's so many great movies to choose from. It's hard to compare great films from different genres too. I mean comparing a movie like "Schindler's List" against a comedy like "Snatch" or "Airplane" isn't easy. However if I'm forced to make a choice I'd go with "Lord Of The Rings - Fellowship Of The Ring" as my favorite. I love the movie and I've watched it countless times even if it's just for background noise while I'm on the computer.

3 - If I could go back in time what is the one thing you would tell the 21-year old version of yourself?

Aside from something like the winning lottery numbers I'd probably tell myself to go to college and earn a degree. That was my biggest mistake and one of the reasons why I'm not in a job I enjoy. 

4 - What is your favorite quote?

 

Normally I would say Carl Sagan's famous "Pale Blue Dot" speech but that might be a bit long to be considered a quote so I'll use another one of his ....

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
― Carl Sagan

 

5 - What is the number one resource you use for your investment blog ?

I use several, many of which I have linked on my blog but without a doubt the one I use most is Yahoo Finance.

 

 

My Nominees are:

Divid-Elephant

DivHut

My Dividend Pipeline

Dividend Mongrel

DividendVet

I honestly don't know if any of them have been nominated by other bloggers yet or not but I enjoy following these blogs and you may too. Also if your a nominee please don't feel obligated to continue this chain but if you'd like to just answer the 5 questions below ...

My 5 questions to the above bloggers are as follows.

1 - Why did you start your blog ?

2 - What is your favorite tv series ?

3 - What was your favorite car you've ever owned ?

4 - What is your worst stock market or financial mishap ?

5 - What if anything do you do for exercise ?

Thanks again DivGro for the nomination!

Kinder Morgan to combine its companies

NEW YORK (AP) — The group of oil and gas pipeline and storage companies controlled by Kinder Morgan but traded separately will combine and become the 4th biggest U.S. energy company by market value.

The companies announced Sunday that Kinder Morgan Inc., Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Kinder Morgan Management and El Paso Pipeline Partners will all combine under the Kinder Morgan Inc. umbrella and trade under the KMI ticker symbol.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. says the total purchase price of the three other companies is $71 billion, including $27 billion of assumed debt. The combined market value of the four companies was $92 billion as of the close of the market Friday. That would make it the fourth largest U.S. energy company after Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

Source: Yahoo News

CEO Richard Kinder also stated the following ...

“All shareholders and unitholders of the Kinder Morgan family of companies will benefit as a result of this combination,” said Chairman and CEO Richard D. Kinder. “Everyone will hold a single, publicly traded security – KMI – which will have a projected dividend of $2.00 in 2015, a 16 percent increase over the anticipated 2014 dividend of $1.72. We expect to grow the dividend by approximately 10 percent each year from 2015 through 2020, with excess coverage anticipated to be greater than $2 billion over that same period. This combined entity will be the largest energy infrastructure company in North America and the third largest energy company overall with an estimated enterprise value of approximately $140 billion. Additionally, we will have a leading position in each of our business segments and operate in the rapidly growing North American energy infrastructure sector"

I'm really not sure what to make of all of this, but I'm very happy to see the commitment to the dividend is still strong going forward. In the short term it'll be interesting to see how the market reacts to this tomorrow.

A closer look at Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

As a stock holder of many different companies I find myself checking through all kinds news and analysis on the internet. This week I thought I'd share a couple of items about the Dividend Aristocrat Johnson & Johnson. Some fellow dividend bloggers have written some nice analysis of JNJ and there was also a great piece that Bloomberg did as well.



Pollie has a great dividend analysis of JNJ on his blog - "Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Stock Analysis Pollie Style"

Dividend Growth Investor also wrote an article and analysis over on Seeking Alpha -"Johnson & Johnson: A Quality Dividend Company At Attractive Valuation"

Income Surfer also wrote a new valuation of JNJ - "My Updated Valuation Of Johnson & Johnson"

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a holding company that researches, develops, and manufactures a diversified range of products in the healthcare field. The company has three segments: Consumer, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Devices and Diagnostics. JNJ is a dividend champion who has increased it's dividend for over 50 years in a row!

Disclosure: I currently own JNJ

Recent Buy - Coca-Cola (KO)

This week I decided to purchase more shares of the soft drink titan Coca-Cola (KO). I purchased another 20 shares at a price of $39.38 which was a bit higher than the last time I purchased KO back in February. With the recent market correction I was intending to make a purchase and had narrowed down my choices between Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) and Coke. In the end I chose Coke but I don't think I could have went wrong with either one. This gives me a total of 61 shares.

The Coca-Cola Company (KO), a beverage company, engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. This dividend king has raised dividends for over 50 years in a row.

KO Stock Chart

 

KO Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: KO
• PE Ratio: 20.9
• Forward PE Ratio: 17.6
• Yield: 2.9%
• Dividend Growth 5yr:  12%
• Payout Ratio: 61%
• Market cap: $171 B
• Website: http://www.cocacola.com

KO Dividend Growth

 

July Dividend Update

It's time to report on my July dividends and it looks like a pretty weak month for me at only $179.34. However this is due to a couple of factors; one being that Walmart (WMT) advanced it's latest dividend to June rather than July and I also just missed the ex-div date when I recently purchased more shares of Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY). Both would have put me comfortably over the $200 mark. That being said i think next quarter will be more inline with my other monthly totals. So from here on out I should be over the $200 mark and climbing ever higher toward that $300 mark.

 July Purchases

• Kinder Morgan (KMI) - 31 shares @ $37.46

July 2014 Dividend Income

• Coke Cola (KO) – $9.76
• Altria (MO) – $45.60
• Glasko Smith Kline (GSK) – $14.72
• Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) - $21.76
• Realty Income (O) - $18.28
• Hatteras Financial (HTS) - $27.50
• Sysco (SYY) - $19.14
• Kraft (KRFT) - $22.58

Total Dividends For July: $179.34

Recent Buy - Kinder Morgan (KMI)

Today I purchased another 31 shares of Kinder Morgan (KMI) at $37.46 which now gives me a grand total of 93 shares. I would have loved to buy this at the prices we saw in April but KMI has been on a roll as the rest of the markets seem to have been.

This purchase comes just days after KMI announced their 2nd quarter results, however my purchase had little to do with the results. KMI did declare a $0.43 per share dividend, up 2.38% from last quarter's $0.42, and up 7.5% from last year's $0.40 per share. I was looking to purchase an August dividend payer for next month and had my eye on a couple of stocks but ultimately went with KMI since they are raising the dividend next payment.

Kinder Morgan, Inc. owns and operates energy transportation and storage assets in the United States and Canada. The company owns an interest in or operates approximately 75,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO2 and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. The company also owns the general partner and approximately 11% of the limited partner interests of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., referred to as ‘KMP.

KMI Stock Chart

KMI Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: KMI
• PE Ratio: 32.9
• Yield: 4.7%
• Dividend Growth 5yr:  10%
• Payout Ratio: 139%
• Market cap: $38.6 B
• Website: http://www.kindermorgan.com

KMI Dividend Growth

June Dividend Update

It's time to report on my June dividends and I'm pleased to announce that my June dividend total was $227.91! This is my highest dividend month ever. This was a bit more than my previous high of $213.13 which I reached just last month and over a 30% increase over last quarter where I earned $173.79 in March. This was partially due to stock purchases, dividend raises and Walmart's dividend moving from early July to late June. Walmart's dividend date has jumped around a few times since I've owned it. I don't expect my July dividend totals to break the $200 mark since I won't be receiving my Walmart dividend and I also just missed the ex-div date for my latest purchase of Piedmont Natural Gas which would have payed in July as well. So it looks like I'll have to wait till October to enjoy those returns.


June Dividend Increases

• Chevron (CVX) - From 1.00 to 1.07 +7%
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - From .66 to .70 +6%
• Universal Health Realty Income Trust (UHT) - From .625 to .63 +0.8%
• Pepsi (PEP) - From .568 to .655 +15.3%

June Purchases

• Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) - 32 shares @ $36.80

June 2014 Dividend Income

• Universal Health Realty Income Trust (UHT) – $31.50
• Pepsi (PEP) – $28.17
• Realty Income (O) – $18.25
• McDonald's (MCD) - $28.35
• Avista (AVA) - $18.42
• Lorillard (LO) - $17.22
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - $11.90
• Chevron (CVX) - $57.78
• Walmart (WMT) - $16.32

Total Dividends For June: $227.91 

Recent Buy - Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY)

Earlier this week I added to my position in Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY). Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc., an energy services company, engages in the distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. It also operates energy-related businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing, regulated interstate natural gas storage, and intrastate natural gas transportation.

I purchased another 32 shares at $36.80 which totaled $1187 and now gives me an even 100 shares of this dividend champion. Sadly I missed the ex-div date by just a few days so I'll miss out on the dividend next month from the new shares.

PNY Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: PNY
• PE Ratio: 18.77
• Yield: 3.5%
• Dividend Growth 10yr: 4.8%
• Payout Ratio: 64%
• Market cap: $3 B
• Website: http://www.piedmontng.com

Recent Buys From Fellow Dividend Investors

I follow or at least visit many other dividend growth investing blogs like mine. You can find many of them in my blogroll. Occasionally I will compile these purchases and see if any patterns appear. This time around I tracked recent purchases from 18 other dividend growth investors for the month of May. There were 54 total purchases made and I have omitted stocks with only a single purchase. You can see the results below.

It's interesting that many of the names that appeared on my last list are gone which may indicate that those stocks may not look as attractive as they were in March. Names like McDonalds (MCD) and Phillip Morris (PM) have been replaced with new stocks like Clorox (CLX) and Target (TGT). One of the new names to appear on the list for the first time is American Reality Capital Properties (ARCP) which was purchased by several bloggers including Dividend Hawk, FF Dividend and My Dividend Pipeline. ARCP is one of those names that has been on my watch list ever since I read about it on Dividend Mantra's website. Another big name this month was Aflac (AFL) which DivHut, Accumulating Assets, Dividend & Whisky, and A Frugal Family's Journey all liked.

Full Disclosure: I currently own shares of KMI, MCD, PG, and CLX.

May Dividend Update

It's time to report on my May dividends and I'm happy to say that my May dividend total was $213.13! This is my highest dividend month so far. I have now hit the $200 mark for the second time ever and it looks like I should be safely above that mark from now on. The great thing about this total was that my dividends have increased from the $207.52 that I made in the previous quarter without any additional stock purchases at all. The reason behind the larger total was simply due to dividend raises from some of the great companies I own shares of. I have listed the raises below and you can see all of my dividend income here as well.

Dividend Increases

General Mills (GIS) - From .38 to .41 +7.8%
WGL Holdings (WGL) - From .42 to .44 +4.7%
People's United Financial (PBCT) - From .163 to .165 +1.2%
Proctor & Gamble (PG) - From .602 to .644 +6.9%
Kinder Morgan (KMI) - From .41 to .42 +2.4%

May Purchases

Pepsi (PEP) - 14 shares @ $85.71
Chevron (CVX) - 10 shares @ $121.47

COMPANY	DESCRIPTION	SYMBOL	AMOUNT
AT&T	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	T	45.08
General Mills	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	GIS	22.55
WGL Holdings	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	WGL	29.04
Reality Income	ORDINARY DIVIDEND	O	18.25
Clorox	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	CLX	13.49
People's United Financial	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	PBCT	36.80
Proctor & Gamble	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	PG	21.88
Kinder Morgan	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	KMI	26.04

Recent Buy - Pepsico (PEP)

Recent Buy - Pepsico (PEP)

Earlier this week I purchased shares of the soft drink giant Pepsico (PEP). I purchased another 14 shares at $85.71 a share which give me a grand total of 43 shares. I have made two previous Pepsi purchases this year at $81 and $83 respectively. As of this writing the stock is sitting at around $87 so I got in on a tiny dip. Recently PEP announced a generous 15.4% dividend increase which is a big factor in my latest purchase here.

PepsiCo, Inc. (PepsiCo), incorporated on November 13, 1986, is a global food and beverage company. Through the Company's bottlers, contract manufacturers and other partners, the Company makes, markets, sells and distributes a range of foods and beverages in more than 200 countries and territories.

PEP Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol:PEP
• PE Ratio: 19
• Yield: 3.1%
• Dividend Growth 10yr:  13%
• Payout Ratio: 51%
• Market cap: $126 B
• Website: http://www.pepsico.com

It's time to report on my April dividends. I was hoping to hit that $200 mark but I just missed that goal. I should hit that mark next quarter even without any more contributions as long as I get a dividend increase from one on my stocks.

Aprils dividend total was $198.15 which is higher than last quarter where I earned $184.27 in January. You can see all of my dividend income here.

Dividend Increases

Walmart (WMT) - From .47 to .48
Piedmont Nat Gas (PNY) - From .31 to .32

COMPANY	DESCRIPTION	SYMBOL	AMOUNT
Coke	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	KO	9.76
Walmart	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	WMT	16.32
Glaxo Smith Kline	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	GSK	17.24
Realty Income	ORDINARY DIVIDEND	O	18.25
Piedmont Nat Gas	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	PNY	21.76
Kraft	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	KRFT	22.58
Hatteras	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	HTS	27.50
Sysco	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	SYY	19.14
Altria	QUALIFIED DIVIDEND	MO	45.60

Recent Buy - Chevron (CVX)

I recently picked up another 10 shares of the energy giant Chevron after their recent dividend increase announcement. In an effort to balance my monthly dividend totals I had been trying to choose a stock to purchase for the end of the quarter. I already had my eye on Chevron before the 7% dividend raise was announced but that was enough to seal the deal for me. I believe this makes the 27th year in a row Chevron has increased it's dividend.

Chevron is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. From exploration to production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas as well as refining , marketing and distribution of transportation fuels and lubricants. Chevron generates power, produces geothermal energy, provides renewable energy, manufactures and sells petrochemical products and energy efficiency solutions.

CVX Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: CVX
• PE Ratio: 11.25
• Yield: 3.2%
• Dividend Growth 10yr:  9.6%
• Payout Ratio: 35%
• Market cap: $238 B
• Website: http://www.chevron.com