Recent Buy - Realty Income (O)

With Christmas just around the corner I have been in a giving mood. Now that I have all my Christmas shopping all done I felt it was a good time to do a little shopping for myself and I think the future me will be very happy with this gift.

Today I purchased 18 shares of Realty Income (O) @ $56.60 for a total of $1018.80

It was just in July when I sold my entire position at around the $70 mark to help pay off my mortgage and the timing could not have been better. The stock began to lose some steam and here we are again in the mid $50 range. It feels good to be back!

This purchase will be my first for my Roth IRA account, and I've already setup automatic dividend reinvestment (DRIP) as well.

O Stock Chart

O Basic Stats

• Ticker Symbol: O
• Sector: REIT - Retail
• Yield: 4.4%
• Dividend Growth Streak: 20 years
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 8.6%
• Market cap: $14.5 Billion
• Website: http://www.realtyincome.com

November 2016 Dividend Income Update

It's time for my November dividend update! This month I just squeaked missed the 300 dollar mark with $290.59 of dividend income. This is about the same as last quarter because I have not made any purchases with pay dividends in this month since then. There's not too many stocks that really look that attractive with the markets going crazy. Still there are some names out there that are falling in the face of rising stock market like Unilever (UL) and Realty Income (O) which I have been watching with interest.

I'm curious what stocks my readers have an eye on. Will you continue making regular purchases, have you decided to save your cash for now? 

November Dividend Increases

• Tompkins Financial (TMP) - From .44 to .45 (+2.2%)
  

November Dividend Income

• AT&T (T) - $108.00
• WGL Holdings (WGL) - $32.18
• General Mills (GIS) - $37.44
• Clorox (CLX) - $15.20
• People's United Financial (PBCT) - $37.91
• Tompkins Financial (TMP) - $20.25
• Abbott Labs (ABT) - $7.02
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - $22.76
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $9.83

Total Dividends November 2016: - $290.59

Recent Buy - Verizon (VZ)

Woa, It's been since August since I've posted a purchase update. Sometimes life just gets in the way but I'm back at it putting my money to work for me. This time around I had a couple of stocks on my mind, those being Unilever (UL) and Verizon (VZ). Both currently on sale and both solid companies that I want in my portfolio!

Ultimately I chose Verizon for this months purchase and I wouldn't be surprised if next months purchase is Unilever. I do own some Unilever already but wouldn't mind adding to it.

Last week I purchased 23 shares of the Verizon (VZ) @ $47.83 for a total of $1108.09

Verizon Communications Inc. (Verizon), incorporated on October 7, 1983, is a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides communications, information and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses and governmental agencies. The Company offers voice, data and video services and solutions on its wireless and wireline networks.

VZ Stock Chart

VZ Basic Stats

• Ticker Symbol: VZ
• Sector: Technology
• Yield: 4.9%
• Dividend Growth Streak: 9 years
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 3.2%
• Payout Ratio: 66%
• P/E Ratio: 12 (forward)
• Market cap: $196 Billion
• Website: http://www.verizon.com

VZ Financial Growth

October 2016 Dividend Income Update

It's time for my October dividend update! This month I just squeaked past that 300 dollar mark with $300.50 of dividend income.  This is a bit down from last quarter because one of the companies I owned was purchased and my income is lower as a result due to that transaction. I also have not made any stock purchases for the month.

While I did not make any stock purchases I did invest a little in Fundrise and their income eReit. So far not much has happened. Well see how it goes over there. I do have my eyes set on a few stocks that have come down from recent highs. With my car troubles behind me (for now) hopefully I can get back to investing.

October Dividend Increases

• New Jersey Resources - From .24 to .255 (+6.25%) Great increase for a utility
  
• Kraft/Heinz - From .575 to .6 (+4.34%)
• Altria - From .565 to .61 (+7.9%) Best dividend payer ever ?
  
• Philip Morris - From 1.02 to 1.04 (+1.9%)

October Dividend Income

• Coke (KO) - $21.35
• New Jersey Resources (NJR) - $90.53
• Kraft/Heinz (KHC) - $25.80
• Altria (MO) - $57.95
• Phillip Morris (PM) - $14.56
• Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) - $35.92
• Cisco (CSCO) - $9.62
• Sysco (SYY) - $20.46
• Annaly Capital (NLY) - $14.79
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $9.52

Total Dividends October 2016: - $300.50

September 2016 Dividend Income Update

It's time for my September dividend update! This month I earned $402.96 which is a new record high for me! This was about 3.5% more than I made last quarter and a whopping 33% more than I earned last year! I'm pretty happy with that progress to say the least.

This month I did not make any purchases due to some car related expenses. This trend may continue going forward as I'm hesitant to keep adding money to an overvalued market. There are some good deals out there but very few. I may just build cash for a while or try investing in other areas like Lending Club, RealtyMogul, or Fundrise.

September Dividend Increases

• None (I can't remember the last time I didn't get at least one increase, weird)

September Dividend Income

• Walmart (WMT) - $43.50
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - $48.80
• Unilever (UL) - $19.77
• Exxon (XOM) - $51.00
• Compass Minerals (CMP) - $22.24
• Cullen & Frost (CFR) - $9.72
• Avista (AVA) - $19.87
• McDonalds (MCD) - $31.15
• Flowers Foods (FLO) - $74.40
• Travelers (TRV) - $8.04
• Universal Health Trust (UHT) - $32.50
• Pepsi (PEP) - $32.36
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $9.83

Total Dividends September 2016: - $402.96

Down But Not Out !

It looks like I'm going to have to take a break from dividend investments this month unfortunately. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and burdens us with unexpected expenses and this month was one such occasion for me.

I took my car up for an inspection so I could renew my license plate tags but my beloved 2002 Ford Focus hatchback failed miserably. I actually knew it was going to fail because the check engine light was on and I suspected a bad fuel pump from the code reader I tested it with. Well they did change the fuel pump but that didn't fix the issue so now we have to do more work. On top of that it failed a safety inspection because the rack and pinion was leaking from three spots. I replaced that as well. So now I'm down about $1700 and my car still needs work. Arrgh !

Anyway I don't think I will be making a purchase here for at least a few weeks as a result of my surprise expenses so it may be quiet around here. In the mean time I will still be watching out for good deals in the market and it looks like we may have more and more if the market keeps dropping.

If anyone wants to write a guest post in the mean time, hit me up at captaindividend@hotmail.com !

August 2016 Dividend Income Update

It's time for my August dividend update! This month I earned $290.14 which was a small step backwards compared to last quarter and even last year where I earned $309.01 for the month of August. The difference is due to my sale of Realty Income in July and even though my purchase of Abbott Labs (ABT) helped offset those losses it just wasn't enough to keep me over that $300 mark, but I'll be back over that in no time!

This month featured one purchase of Flowers Foods and 8 different companies as well as a bond fund payed me dividends this month.

August Purchases

• Flowers Foods (FLO) - 157 Shares @ $16.46

August Dividend Increases

• General Mills (GIS) - From .46 to .48 (+4.3%)  Note: This is the 2nd raise in two quarters!
  
• Clorox (CLX) - From .77 to .80 (+3.8%)

August Dividend Income

• AT&T (T) - $108
• WGL Holdings (WGL) - $32.18
• General Mills (GIS) - $37.44
• Clorox (CLX) - $15.20
• Peoples United Financial (PBCT) - $37.91
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - $22.76
• Abbott Labs (ABT) - $7.02
• Tompson Financial (TMP) - $19.80
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $9.83

Total Dividends August 2016: - $290.14

Recent Buy - Flowers Foods (FLO)

I wanted to post an update since it's been a while since I've posted. Last week I had my eye on Flowers Foods again, and my timing couldn't have been worse. I purchased right before earnings were announced and the shares were punished afterwards as the company adjusted lower guidance than previously hoped. Compounding matters further was litigation news concerning the drivers which hammered the stock even further. I let the dust settle and made another purchase which brought my average price down quite a bit.

Flowers Foods is a company that has been around for decades and will be around for many more assuming they are not purchased by a larger food giant. I do not feel that the legal issues with the drivers will hurt FLO much even if they lose the judgments and they will come back stronger once they put this matter behind them.

Last week I purchased 157 more shares of the US baker Flowers Foods for a total of $2584.34 which is an average of $16.46/share.

Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO), is a bakery which was opened by the Flowers family in 1919 and is now one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States. FLO is the home for some of the largest brands in the business including Wonder, and Natures Own brands and is the second largest bread company in the US.

FLO Stock Chart

FLO Basic Stats

• Ticker Symbol: FLO
• Sector: Consumer Goods
• Yield: 4.2%
• Dividend Growth Streak: 10 years
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 10.6%
• Payout Ratio: 67%
• P/E Ratio: 15.7 (forward)
• Market cap:$3.15 Billion
• Website: http://www.flowersfoods.com

FLO Financial Growth

FLO Dividend Growth

July 2016 Dividend Income Update

It's time for my July dividend update! Another great month of dividend income has come and it looks like I managed to earn $322.88 in July. This month featured a new addition to the portfolio in Abbott Labs as well as a departure of one of my favorite stocks in Realty Income (O). I probably would not have sold my position but I really wanted to pay off my mortgage (which I did) and I thought I might find a more attractive price for O in the future. Time will tell but I have no regrets. My income is listed below.

 July Purchases

• Abbott Labs (ABT). I purchased 27 shares @ $39.40 for $1073

July Sales

• Realty Income (O)

July Dividend Increases

• Realty Income (O) - From .1995 to .2015 (+1%)

July Dividend Income

• Coca Cola (KO) - $21.35
• New Jersey Resources (NJR) - $85.20
• Kraft/Heinz (KHC) - $24.73
• Hatteras Financial (HTS) - $24.75
• Altria (MO) - $53.68
• Phillip Morris (PM) - $14.28
• Glako Smith Kline (GSK) - $38.51
• Realty Income (O) - $19.95
• Sysco (SYY) - $20.46
• Cisco (CSCO) - $9.62
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $10.35

Total Dividends July 2016: - $322.88

Recent Sell - Realty Income (O)

With the markets at all time highs here this week it's getting harder and harder to find stocks to invest in. Not only that but stocks are increasingly looking overvalued, so much in fact that I have taken my foot off the pedal and stopped funding my brokerage account. Now I am left wondering what I can do with my money.

Well every month when I get my statement from my mortgage company and I see the ridiculous interest rate (5.375%) I have and I wonder why I haven't been paying it down. I've finally decided enough is enough and began aggressively paying down my principal.

In order for me to completely pay off my mortgage in the next month or two I will need some extra capital. The money I need will have to come from the sale of one of my core holdings. I wanted to sell a position that I thought was overvalued and could possibly get back in at a better price in the future. There were a few candidates but I ultimately chose Realty Income (O).

I have owned Realty Income since 2012 and have an average cost basis of about $40 per share and completely sold my entire position for just under $70 per share. I'm looking forward to the day I can use the money I save every month and put it towards new investments again. Possibly even Realty Income.

Expected Earnings For Next Week:July 18- July 22

Just a heads up ... There are some major companies scheduled to report quarterly earnings next week. On monday Bank of America Corp. reports earnings before the market open with IBM and Yahoo reporting earnings after the market close. On Tuesday we have Johnson & Johnson & Lockheed Martin reporting before the bell while Microsoft reports after the bell.

Source: Stocktwits

 

Dividend Investment Panic – Are We Losing Our Minds?

This is a guest post by Passive Income Dude at www.passiveincomedude.blogspot.com

 

Recently I’ve talked a lot on my site about yields (here), but today I want to get even more to the point about the crazy negative-yield environment we find ourselves in, and more importantly, what that means for us as dividend investors.

Consider this fact:

 

There is now $13 trillion of global negative-yielding debt. There was almost NONE in mid-2014. Now, close to 10% of all debt is negative!

 

The chase for yield, and POSITIVE yield, is real. Consider the following quote from Morningstar’s DividendInvestor newsletter this month, where he talks about an idea called “There is No Alternative:”
 

“It’s TINA’s market now: There Is No Alternative. This has to be the least inspiring rationale for a bull market ever. No matter how far they’ve already run, how high valuations have become, or how pitiful the under­lying economic and corporate fundamentals may be, we’re told we have no choice but to keep holding stocks.”

 

Does it seem like he believes in the long-term ‘soundness’ of these increased stock prices? No.

 

So there lies the foundation for my argument. The “There is No Alternative and Negative Yields” argument. The argument that dividend paying stocks are being flocked to like crazy by individuals looking for yield, and individuals who used to look for them in bonds.

 

The problem arises when these individuals think the risk profile of the stock is the same as the bond. Again from the DividendInvestor, “Even when it pays a large, reliable, and growing dividend, a stock is still a stock. Excess popularity usually correlates with high valuations, which can only subtract from future total returns while adding risk.”

 

High valuations and low future returns. Interesting. I recently wrote how Realty Income (O) is overvalued now, in my opinion. Realty Income, to me, could be an example of what is happening and will continue to happen in the near term. Be careful, O’ Dividend Investors, that you are not buying dividend paying stocks at a significant premium!

 

What do you think? I’d love to hear your perspective and comments.

If you would like more investing commentary and insights, please visit Passive Income Dude at www.passiveincomedude.blogspot.com where I share my journey to financial freedom through my own disciplined dividend and real estate investing. Thanks for reading!

Recent Buy - Abbott Laboratories (ABT)

Time for my next purchase has come around once again. This time I had my eyes set on a stock which payed in the middle month of the quarter. It's my lowest paying month and for better or worse I like to keep my payments rather balanced.

The first thing I do when I'm ready to make a purchase is go through my portfolio and look for names which are selling at a discount or at least what I interpret as fair value. None of my holdings really made the cut except for PBCT. However I put that on the back burner since the dividend growth has been disappointing to say the least.

I decided to look elsewhere outside of my portfolio instead and I opened a new position in Abbott Labs (ABT). I purchased 27 shares @ $39.40 for $1073.

Abbott Laboratories manufactures and sells health care products and medical equipment worldwide and has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years. Abbott offers a safe and attractive dividend that should continue to grow over time. It's important to note that dividend growth could be a bit slower in the next couple of years however as Abbott has made some key acquisitions recently and they need to conserve cash. I view this as temporary however and growth should return in time.

Abbott Labs (ABT) Stock Chart

ABT Basic Stats

• Ticker Symbol: ABT
• Sector: Healthcare
• Yield: 2.6%
• Dividend Growth Streak: 44 years
• Dividend Growth 1yr: 8%
• Payout Ratio: 68%
• P/E Ratio: 25 (17 forward)
• Market cap:$61 Billion
• Website:  http://www.abbott.com/

ABT Dividend Growth

At first glance the anomaly in 2013 looks like a dividend cut but was simply due to the Abbvie (ABBV) spinoff and not actually a cut.

June 2016 Dividend Income Update

It's time for my June dividend update! What a great month it was for me in terms of dividend income. I actually had my highest dividend total ever this month coming in at $389.03 so I'm closing in on that $400 mark! My monthly average has now also crossed over the $350 mark for the first time ever. June tends to be a pretty strong month for us dividend investors because of the great selection of companies which payout this month. It's not surprising that so many of us had record months.

This month I also received several dividend increases which served to help increase my income even further. You can see my income below.

  June Purchases

• Flowers Foods (FLO) - 64 Shares @ $18.50 = $1184

June Dividend Increases

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - From .75 to .80 (+6.6%)
• Exxon (XOM) - From .73 to .75 (+2.7%)
• Flowers Foods (FLO) - From .146 to .16 (+10.3%)
• Travelers (TRV) - From .61 to .67 (+9.8%)
• Universal Health Realty Trust (UHT) - From .645 to .65 (+.8%)
• Pepsi (PEP) - From .703 to .753 (+7.1%)
• Realty Income (O) - From .199 to .200 (+.5%)

June Dividend Income

• Unilever (UL) - $20.15
• Walmart (WMT) - $43.50
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - $48.80
• Exxon (XOM) - $51.00
• Compass Minerals (CMP) - $22.41
• Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) - $9.72
• Realty Income (O) - $19.90
• Avista (AVA) - $19.87
• McDonalds (MCD) - $31.15
• Flowers Foods (FLO) - $39.04
• Travelers (TRV) - $8.04
• Universal Health (UHT) - $32.50
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $10.59
• Pepsi (PEP) - $32.36

Total Dividends June 2016: - $389.03

Recent Buy - Flowers Foods (FLO)

With the markets at high valuations these days it's becoming more and more difficult for me to find value in the stock market. I remember not long ago where I had to pick between several stocks which looked attractively valued but that doesn't seem to be the case these days. I did find one that I liked though and it's one I've already purchased a couple of times this year.

Early this week I purchased 64 more shares of the US baker Flowers Foods for a total of $1184.

Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO), is a bakery which was opened by the Flowers family in 1919 and is now one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States. FLO is the home for some of the largest brands in the business including Wonder, and Natures Own brands and is the second largest bread company in the US.

Flower Foods just announced another dividend increase of 10.3% and is expected to grow EPS by double digits again this year. I am bit bummed that I missed the ex-div date by less than a week though!

Sure Dividend has a nice article about FLO as well that's worth a look.

FLO Stock Chart

FLO Basic Stats

• Ticker Symbol: FLO
• Sector: Consumer Goods
• Yield: 3.46%
• Dividend Growth Streak: 10 years
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 10.6%
• Payout Ratio: 66%
• P/E Ratio: 16.6 (forward)
• Market cap:$3.75 Billion
• Website: http://www.flowersfoods.com

FLO Financial Growth

FLO Cash Flow VS Dividend Payout

FLO Dividend Growth

May 2016 Dividend Income Update

It's time for my May dividend update! This month I squeaked past the $300 mark once again and managed to earn $301.68 in dividend income. I didn't make any major purchases but I did manage to increase my income over last quarter by 3.1% partially due to a few dividend raises. My YOY income growth was 9% as well. My income is listed below.

On a side note, I'm really finding it hard to find value in this market. I see a few names I'm considering for my next purchase but I really don't have anything that I want to buy with any conviction to be honest. Well see what happens.

May Purchases

• Compass Minerals (CMP) - 14 Shares @ $76.75

May Dividend Increases

• WGL Holdings (WGL) - From .468 to .488 (+4.2%)
• General Mills (GIS) - From .44 to .46 (+4.5%)
• Proctor & Gamble - From .663 to .67 (+1.0%)
• People's United Financial - From .168 to .17 (+1.1%)

May Dividend Income

• AT&T (T) - $108.00
• WGL Holdings (WGL) - $32.18
• General Mills (GIS) - $35.88
• Clorox (CLX) - $14.63
• Realty Income (O) - $19.90
• Peoples United Financial (PBCT) - $37.91
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - $22.76
• Tompkins Financial (TMP) - $19.80
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $10.60

Total Dividends May 2016: - $301.68

Recent Buy - Compass Minerals (CMP)

Earlier this week I added to my position in Compass Minerals (CMP). CMP is one of the smallest companies in terms of market cap that I have in my portfolio and it is also one of the smallest in terms of portfolio weight. CMP has been beaten down a bit after the mild winter hurt their salt sales so I decided to buy some more shares here.

Compass Minerals produces salt, plant nutrients and magnesium chloride for distribution primarily in North America. CMP also provides secure records storage in a retired mine in the U.K. Products from Compass Minerals serve a variety of applications in industrial, agricultural, commercial and consumer markets.

If you want a nice analysis of CMP be sure and check out Simply Safe Dividend's article here.

I bought 14 Shares of CMP @ $76.75 for a total of $1074.50

CMP Stock Chart

CMP Basic Stats

• Ticker Symbol: CMP
• Sector: Materials
• Yield: 3.6%
• Dividend Growth Streak: 12 years
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 10%
• Payout Ratio: 61%
• P/E Ratio: 17.2
• Market cap: $2.5 Billion
• Website: http://www.compassminerals.com

CMP Dividend Growth

April 2016 Dividend Update

It's April dividend update time! It was a record breaking month for dividend income as I earned $372.52 in dividends! This is a 33% improvement over last years April income total and higher than last quarter as well. This doesn't even include the special dividend that was made by Glaxo Smith Kline.  I love seeing my dividend income grow each quarter, and with recent dividend increase announcements from the likes of Pepsi and Johnson & Johnson that trend looks to accelerate even more! My dividend income is listed below.

 April Purchases

• Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) - 18 Shares @ $61.49

April Dividend Increases

• Coca-Cola (KO) - From .33 to .35 (+6%)
• Walmart (WMT) - From .49 to .50 (+2%)

April Dividend Income

• Coca-Cola (KO) - $21.35
• New Jersey Resources (NJR) - $85.20
• Walmart (WMT) - $43.50
• Kraft/Heinz (KHC) - $24.73
• Realty Income (O) - $19.90
• Phillip Morris (PM) - $14.28
• Altria (MO) - $53.68
• Cisco (CSCO) - $9.62
• Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) - $43.93
• Hatteras Financial (HTS) - $24.75
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $11.12
• Sysco (SYY) - $20.46

Total Dividends April 2016: - $372.52

Recent Buy - Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR)

I made my usual monthly purchase recently and it's probably a stock that's not on most peoples radar. Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. (CFR) is a small regional mid cap bank based in Texas. I was actually researching another Texas bank (PB) at the time that I discovered CFR and I decided I liked it a little better. CFR has been beaten up recently as the Texas economy has been under pressure due to low oil prices and the Texas banks have not been immune to this either.

CFR does have some direct exposure to oil as about 15% of their loans are connected to the oil patch. However most of these loans are safe and the company stated that only 9.8% of those loans are likely to produce a loss. It's important to note that CFR has been through this before and survived quite well.

As far as banks go I like the regional banks over the larger banks who are really under so much scrutiny especially now during election time. CFR was also able to weather the financial crisis better than most of it's larger competitors like WFC and BAC which cut their dividends during that time.

CFR Stock Chart

CFR Basic Stats

• Ticker Symbol: CFR
• Sector: Financial
• Yield: 3.4%
• Dividend Growth Streak: 23 years
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 3.5%
• Payout Ratio: 49%
• P/E Ratio: 14.1
• Market cap:$3.7 Billion
• Website: http://www.frostbank.com

CFR Financial Growth

CFR Dividend Growth

March 2016 Dividend Update

It's March dividend update time! My dividend total for March was $289.49 which is a 15% improvement over last year and just slightly higher than last quarter. This total probably would have been higher had I not sold my shares in Chevron after growing concern about their dividend coverage. This could be my last month below the $300 mark and it looks like my quarterly average is comfortably above the $300/month mark as well. April is looking to be a solid month! My dividend income is listed below.

March Purchases

• Cisco (CSCO) - 37 Shares @ $27.58

March Dividend Increases

• Compass Minerals (CMP) - From .66 to .695 (+5.3%)
• Avista (AVA) - From .33 to .343 (+4%)

March Dividend Income

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - $45.75
• Unilever (UL) - $18.18
• Exxon (XOM) - $49.64
• Compass Minerals (CMP) - $12.51
• Realty Income (O) - $19.85
• McDonalds (MCD) - $31.15
• Avista (AVA) - $19.87
• Flowers Foods (FLO) - $17.26
• Pepsi (PEP) - $30.21
• Travelers (TRV) - $7.32
• Powershares Muni Bond ETF (PZA) - $5.48
• Universal Health Trust (UHT) - $32.25

Total Dividends March 2016: - $289.49

Recent Purchase - Cisco

I've been looking around for another stock this past week as I knew I'd have the money to make another purchase. I wanted to buy a stock which pays in April so that limited my choices a bit. The first thing I look at are the names that I already own which might look attractive but I had a tough time finding anything that I thought was a screaming buy. Philip Morris (PM) is looking expensive as is Realty Income (O), there's still some value in Walmart (WMT) but the dividend growth has fell off. So I decided to look elsewhere and since I'm a bit light in the tech sector I looked into Cisco (CSCO).

Cisco Systems designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol (IP) based networking products and services related to the communications and information technology industry worldwide. While Cisco remains a leader in networking they continue to look forward to the future to ensure diversity of it's revenue sources. Cloud based computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) are now a major focus and Cisco has been busy making acquisitions to unlock this previously untapped market.

It's a shame I didn't consider CSCO a month ago when it was much cheaper but I think I made up for it with my Flowers Foods (FLO) purchase. Recently the company announced a 24% dividend increase and a $15 billion buyback. Cisco’s new dividend represents 35% of its free cash flow, so there should be plenty of room for future dividend growth. Assuming 10% dividend growth per year, Cisco’s annual payout will reach $1.52 per share by 2020, a 5.5% yield based on the current stock price.

I purchased 37 shares of Cisco @ $27.58 

CSCO Stock Chart

CSCO Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: CSCO
• Sector: Technology
• Yield: 3.8%
• Dividend Streak: 5 years
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 18%
• Payout Ratio: 42%
• P/E Ratio: 13.8
• Market cap:$140 Billion
• Website: http://www.cisco.com

CSCO Dividend Growth Chart