Today was a rare day for me. I sold one of my positions completely. It's been a long time since I've sold one of my stocks and I don't plan on making a habit of this but when circumstances change so dramatically in such a short time I can't help but to evaluate and take action if I fell it is warranted.
This time around an old friend of mine in Tompkins Financial (TMP) was on the chopping block. Tompkins Financial Corporation is a small, diversified financial
services company based in Ithaca, New York with banking branches across
New York and Pennsylvania.
My decision to sell wasn't because of an accounting scandal or poor management. Quite the contrary and through no fault of their own TMP has simply become grossly overvalued.
As you can see the stock has made quite a run in the last couple of years, nearly doubling since I purchased it in 2014. I kinda wish it had not made such a run so I could keep buying at a better yield, but now the yield is at 2% and the last dividend raise was a modest 2.3% raise when they typically raise 5% or so. TMP has very steadily growing earnings and even through the financial crisis earnings grew and the stock performed better than any other financial entity I can think of. That being said the valuation has grown far in excess of earnings growth and I am going to wait for the inevitable pullback before buying again.
With the funds from the sale I purchased 81 shares of Verizon (VZ) which offers a better yield and is a far better value at this time.
That's a much better reason to sell than the other. I should have pulled the sell trigger before on a couple holdings because the valuation was just out of whack. Of course not long after I was waffling on my decision the share prices quickly moved back to around fair value. That was an opportunity lost.
ReplyDeleteMaybe TMP can find its way back into your portfolio in the future if the markets ever actually go down.
Totally wise. I did the same with COLB. I have been watching TMP since it was in the $30's. It just ran away. Nice profit. Buy low, sell high.
ReplyDeleteYou made a great decision! With so a low yield and such a low increase their is no reason to keep your hard earned money in here. There are so many better stocks you could put this money into.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a happy ending here. I chased Frontier Communications yield a few months back when I was younger and dumber. Luckily it was a very small buy. Now it's so low that I might as well collect the yield and hope it recovers a little.
ReplyDeleteWahoo, Good call with picking up those shares of Verizon! I'm slowly building my Verizon stash as well.
ReplyDeleteJust remember anytime their stock goes down, that people hate switching carriers, so that dividend will just keep coming =)
Good call, I've taken some profits this month as well.
ReplyDeleteEvery 3 months I like to rebalance and sell some shares of companies that I believe have overshot their value.
I'm hoping for a pullback to buy some more.