Recent Buy - Flowers Foods (FLO)

Early this week I picked up some shares of the US baker Flowers Foods (FLO). Flowers Foods is the home for some of the largest brands in the business including Wonder, and Natures Own brands. The vast distribution channel consisting of 5,200 independent distributors and warehouses nationwide has enabled Flowers Foods to become the second largest bread company in the US.

Flower Foods is looking for double-digit earnings per share expansion on an annual basis. Analysts are expecting earnings growth to be around 11% in 2016 after the bakery has worked to integrate some acquisitions it's made last year. Along with earnings growth I expect dividend growth to remain robust.

I purchased 56 shares of FLO @ $21.44 - $1200.64

Some of Flowers Foods brands

FLO Chart

FLO Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: FLO
• Sector: Consumer Goods
• Yield: 2.7%
• Dividend Streak: 10 years
• Dividend Growth 1yr: 9.0%
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 10.6%
• Payout Ratio: 64%
• P/E Ratio: 19.5
• Market cap:$4.5 Billion
• Website: http://www.flowersfoods.com

FLO Dividend Growth Chart

December Dividend Update

Time for my December dividend update, what a year it's been! My dividend total for the month of December was $285.71 which is a 34% improvement over last year but a 5.6% decrease from last quarter. The decrease in dividends this month was due to Walmart and Pepsi moving payments to January rather than December. To soften the blow a bit Coca-Cola payed this month instead of in January. I really hate how they move the dividends around like that but it's really not a big deal.

For the year I earned a total of $3327.59 in dividends which is a 32% increase over my 2014 total of $2505.48. In comparison my 2014 total was a 43% increase over my 2013 total. It's important to note that even though my growth is lower on a percentage basis the sum of the difference is greater and I expect that trend to continue going forward. My dividend income is listed below.

December Purchases

• Walmart (WMT) - 17 Shares @ $59.84

December Dividend Increases

• Unilever (UL) - From .328 to .344 (+4.8 %)
• McDonalds (MCD) - From .85 to .89 (+4.7%)
• Universal Health Trust (UHT) - From .64 to .645 (+0.7%)

December Dividend Income

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - $36.75
• Unilever - (UL) - $18.96
• Chevron (CVX) - $57.78
• Exxon (XOM) - $31.39
• Realty Income (O) - $19.05
• Avista (AVA) - $19.14
• McDonald's (MCD) - $31.15
• Coca-Cola (KO) - $20.13
• Compass Minerals (CMP) - $11.88
• Universal Realty Trust (UHT) - $32.25
• Travelers (TRV) - $7.32

Total Dividends December 2015: - $285.71

Recent Buy - Walmart

Today I made another purchase as the markets took a beating. This time I picked up some more shares of retail giant Walmart (WMT). This allowed me to average down a bit. Sadly I was a couple weeks removed from the ex-dividend date so I'll miss next quarters dividend with these new shares.

I wanted to add a January payer and I was also considering adding to my stake in Phillip Morris (PM) or initiating a new position in Cisco (CSCO) but I thought Walmart offered a better value and I like to average down whenever possible.

I purchased 17 shares of Walmart (WMT) at $59.84

WMT Basic Statistics

• Ticker Symbol: WMT
• Sector: Retail
• Yield: 3.3%
• Dividend Streak: 40 years
• Dividend Growth 1yr: 2.0%
• Annualized Dividend Growth 3yr: 11%
• Payout Ratio: 43%
• P/E Ratio: 14
• Market cap:$188 Billion
• Wabsite: http://www.walmart.com

November Dividend Update

I finally got around to posting my November dividend update. Some of the delay was due to setting up my new computer which has been a bit of a pain but finally got it going more or less. In November the markets have been under some volatility partially due to falling commodity prices with oil leading the way down but we ended up being pretty flat for the month.

My dividend total for the month of November was $336.79 which is a 40% improvement over last year and a 9% increase from last quarter. I've made no purchases that paid this month so the reason for the big increase from last quarter was because Kraft/Heinz has moved their dividend from October to November. Without that my income would have been 1% higher QoQ due to dividend increases alone. My dividend income is listed below.

It should be noted that I have sold my shares in KMI in order to do some tax loss harvesting. As you probably know KMI has been under extraordinary selling pressure and management even decided to cut the dividend today after hours a whopping 75%. I certainly got this one wrong, and I planned on holding KMI for a long long time but as Mike Tyson said "Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth" and I certainly felt like I took one on the chin here. With the proceeds of the sale I added to my stake in AT&T. I expect next quarters total to be a bit lower as a result. Stay tuned!

November Purchases

• New Jersey Resources (NJR) - 355 Shares @ $29.70

November Dividend Increases

• Tompkins Financial (TMP) - From .42 to .44 (+4.7 %)
• Kraft Heinz (KHC) - From .55 to .575 (+4.5%)
• Kinder Morgan (KMI) - From .49 to .51 (+4%)

November Dividend Income

• AT&T (T) - $78.96
• General Mills - (GIS) - $34.32
• WGL Holdings (WGL) - $30.53
• Clorox (CLX) - $14.63
• Kinder Morgan (KMI) - $63.24
• Realty Income (O) - $19.05
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) - $22.54
• People's United Financial (PBCT) - $37.35
• Kraft Heinz (KHC) - $24.73
• Tompkins Financial (TMP) - $11.44

Total Dividends November 2015: - $336.79