With the end of March and the beginning of April, spring seems to finally be arriving after an unusually harsh winter here in the Pacific Northwest. Trees and flowers are starting to blossom and on weekends I hear the noise of neighbors’ lawn mowers as they give their lawns a needed trimming. Also part of spring is tax season and I just filed my taxes, so that unpleasant business is done.
So let’s do the numbers for March’s dividend income and see how it went for the month:
AWP $ 45.00
BGY $ 38.00*
CHW $ 21.00*
CIK $ 22.00*
CLM $ 44.43*
DHY $ 40.25
DMF $ 12.30
DSM $ 22.83
EAD $ 10.88
EDF $ 45.00*
EXG $114.00*
HQL $ 36.00
** $ 1.20
NCV $ 45.50
OIA $ 4.30
PFN $ 36.00
RA $ 69.85
VFL $ 15.00
ZTR $ 22.60
TOTAL $646.14
* Includes Return of Capital
** My employer’s stock, which shall remain anonymous.
Well, March’s total of $646.14 wasn’t too bad. Not great, but not bad either.
Unfortunately, March saw more dividend cuts than I would have liked:
- EXG cut its monthly dividend from 8.13 cents to 7.6 cents (a 6.5% cut).
- As mentioned in January’s dividend income report, HQL cut its quarterly dividend 10%, from 40 cents per share to 36 cents which was felt in March.
- PNNT slashed its quarterly dividend from 28 cents to 18 cents (a 35.7% cut). That’s going to hurt.
- EHI trimmed its monthly dividend from 8 cents to 7.5 cents (a 6.25% cut), plus there was no EHI payout for March (but payouts are scheduled for April, May, and June).
- VFL trimmed 9% off its monthly 5.5 cents dividend to 5.0 cents. VFL’s cut was just a small nick, but when added to the other above dividend cuts, it feels worse than it really is.
My ETF heavy portfolio always sees a lot of dividend cuts in the first quarter of the new year, so March’s dividends cuts are disappointing, but not surprising. Thanks to these cuts, my projected monthly dividend income has declined a bit. 🙁
Overall, March was a good, but a tinge disappointing, month.
Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)
Very nice income over this month. Well done, lets hope that the dividends increase and so do the buying opportunities!
Thanks for visiting BHL Yep, $646.14 wasn’t a bad haul for March. I hope that some dividends increase too, but since my portfolio is so ETF heavy, dividend increases are a real rarity. As for buying opportunities, they are out there but they’re not easy to find given the market’s upswing these past few months.
Bummer about the dividend cuts, but still a very strong income month. Nice work.
Thanks for the visit Hunting. Yeah, dividend cuts aren’t much fun, but as long as I keep moving forward then the cuts are just speed bumps on the road to greater dividend income. As I often say, my dividend investing work is a four steps forward and one step back process. March’s total dividend payouts were good, but I look forward to ever better dividend income in the coming months.
Good job, cuts always stink but that’s the risk with higher risk stocks.
Thanks for the visit Doug. Yeah, the greater risks of dividend cuts comes with the greater yields. If I had invested in more safer stocks (such as the famed Dividend Aristocrats), then I would have lower yields and it would have taken more time and/or capital to attain the kind of monthly dividend income I now have. But I have been thinking about doing some dividend growth investing as a way to mitigate the damage from dividend cuts. With so many stocks currently currently near their 52-week highs, it’s not easy to find a bargain among the Dividend Aristocrat stocks.
Sorry to hear about the cuts. That’s always rough. Thanks for sharing though. I am drastically behind my goal and will need a MASSIVE last 3 quarters to reach it!
Passive Income Dude
Thanks for visiting Dan. Yeah, dividend cuts are never fun, but I’ll just keep pushing forward. I’m a bit behind on reaching my goals too, so I hear ya!