Recent Buy - Compass Minerals International (CMP)

Wow three purchases in June. I think this is the first time I can remember making 3 purchases in a month since the beginning of my dividend growth journey. Usually I make 1 or 2 purchases but the money from the RAI merger along with the proceeds from my subsequent sale of RAI shares pushed me to an additional purchase this month! What to do with all this money? Put it to work for me!

Thanks to 'I Want To Retire Soon' and 'Dividend Empire' I recently discovered a gem of a company that most of you probably haven't heard of before and I like what I see. Compass Minerals International (CMP) has only been a publicly traded company since 2003 but it's true origins date back to the 1800's!

Compass Minerals International, Inc. is engaged in the business of producing minerals, including salt, sulfate of potash specialty fertilizer and magnesium chloride. It provides highway deicing salt to customers in North America and the United Kingdom and specialty fertilizer to growers and fertilizer distributors worldwide.

CMP has come down in price recently which has pushed the yield over 3% here. The dividend growth has been stellar with over 10 years of increases and a 5 year growth rate over 10%. EPS guidance looks strong and margins are expanding in the right direction.

I purchased 18 shares of CMP at $83.76.

CMP Stock Chart

CMP Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: CMP
• P/E Ratio: 12.4
• Sector: Materials
• Yield: 3.2%
• Dividend Growth Rate: 11%
• Payout Ratio: 36%
• Market cap: $2.83 Billion
• Beta: .47
• Morningstar Fair Value: $94
• Value Line Target Price: $115
• Website: http://www.compassminerals.com

CMP Dividend Growth

Recent Buy - Travelers (TRV)

Looks like I squeaked in a second monthly buy this month already. Today I opened a position in Travelers Companies (TRV). I had a few other stocks on my radar as well including WMT, PM and KMI but I missed the ex-div date on PM so I decided to wait on that and open a position in TRV instead. I don't have a ton of exposure to the financial sector so this is a nice fit for me.

As you can see by the stats below TRV sports a 2.5% yield which is pretty low for my taste but makes up for it with a healthy a dividend growth rate of 10%.

Travelers Companies Inc through its subsidiaries provides commercial & personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations and individuals.

I purchased 12 shares of TRV at $99.81 this week.

TRV Stock Chart

TRV Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: TRV
• P/E Ratio: 10.52
• Sector: Financial
• Yield: 2.5%
• Dividend Growth Rate: 10%
• Payout Ratio: 21%
• Market cap: $32 Billion
• Beta: 1.2
• Morningstar Fair Value: $108
• Value Line Target Price: $130
• Website: http://www.travelers.com

TRV Dividend Growth

Recent Buy - Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Earlier this week I made another stock purchase and this time I was looking to replace the dividends in the last month of the quarter which I lost due to the Reynolds American Tobacco (RAI) buyout of Lorillard (LO). My precious Lorillard shares finally left my portfolio and were replaced with cash and some shares of RAI stock. I sold the remaining shares of RAI stock as I already have two other tobacco companies that I'm happy with and some of that money was put to use in this transaction.


I purchased another 17 shares of XOM at $83.50 this week.

XOM Stock Chart

XOM Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: XOM
• P/E Ratio: 12.8
• Sector: Energy
• Yield: 3.4%
• Dividend Growth Rate: 7.5%
• Payout Ratio: 41 %
• Market cap: $357b
• Beta: 1.1
• Morningstar Fair Value: $98
• Website: http://www.exxonmobil.com

XOM Dividend Growth

May Dividend Update

May has come and gone so it's time for my monthly dividend update! My May dividend total was $276.76 which is up slightly from the $268.88 that I made last quarter in February. This is nearly beat out my best month ever just last month!

In comparison, last years May total was $213.13 which means my dividend's for the month have grown by 23% year over year. Looks like I only had one single purchase in May which I listed below.

May Purchases

• AT&T (T) - 33 shares @ $34.99

May Dividend Increases

• General Mills (GIS) - From .41 to .44 (+7.3 %)
• WGL Holdings (WGL) - From .44 to .463 (+5.2%)
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - From .644 to .663 (+2.9%)
• Peoples United Financial (PBCT) - From .165 to .168 (+1.8%)
• Kinder Morgan (KMI) - From .45 to .48 (+6.7%)

May Dividend Income

• AT&T (T) - $63.45
• General Mills (GIS) - $34.32
• WGL Holdings (WGL) - $30.53
• Clorox (CLX) - $14.06
• Thompson Financial (TMP) - $10.92
• Realty Income (O) - $18.95
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - $22.54
• Peoples United Financial (PBCT) - $37.35
• Kinder Morgan (KMI) - $44.64

Total Dividends For May 2015: - $276.76