December, as well as the year, is over! It’s rare that I’m glad to see the previous year over and done, but 2020 is certainly a year that has been challenging to us all. My wife and I are still recovering from our COVID encounter last month. We tire more easily and I still don’t feel like I have fully returned to my pre-COVID sense of “normal.” The long-term effects of the virus are still unknown, so we’ll see how this plays out over time. I won’t go into all the ways 2020 was a bad year (on a small and large scale), as that’s not really relevant to this blog.

However, 2020 wasn’t all bad. If you were an investor who had some cash at the ready, March was a great opportunity to snap up bargain priced stocks and lock in some fantastic dividend yields. Your portfolio’s total value probably took a beating during the spring bear market, but recovered nicely by the end of the year.

Well, let’s do the numbers for December dividend income and see how the month shaped up:

BGY $ 33.80
CHW $ 7.00
CIK $ 22.50*
CLM $ 46.33*
DHY $ 28.88
EDF $ 20.00*
EHI $ 26.80
EHI $ 26.80
EXG $ 92.40*
FGB $ 70.13
HQL $180.00
NCV $ 29.75
PFN $ 36.00
ZTR $ 24.00
TOTAL $644.39

* Includes Return of Capital

$644.39? That’s not too bad, but a bit lower than I had expected.

Unfortunately, payout irregularities hit in December, and the payouts for AWP ($44.00) and USA ($48.00) got deferred to next month instead of being paid out in December as usual. So December’s total came up $92.00 shorter than I had anticipated. December is slightly disappointing, but January should be $92.00 better than usual.

There were a couple bright spots in December. FGB, as expected, paid out in December instead of November as usual and to my surprise EHI paid out twice, which is a rare but welcome occurance. If not for FGB’s deferred payout ($70.13) and EHI’s extra payout ($26.80), December’s total could have been a worse $547.46.

Again needing cash, I sold off all of CHW in three separate trades during December: 50 shares at $9.30/share, 50 shares at $9.54/share, and 100 shares at $9.58/share.

The end of December also marks the end of the year’s fourth quarter. The total for 2020 Q4 is $1919.02. In comparison, the total for 2019 Q4 was $2500.10. That’s a -23.2% decline, which is concerning to say the least. Obviously December’s $92.00 shortfall impacted the quarter’s total. If all of December’s expected payouts had occurred on time, then the quarter’s total would have been $2011.02, making the comparison to 2019 Q4 down -19.5% (which is better, but still concerning).

December’s performance was a bit disappointing, which will mean January’s dividend total will be better when the deferred payouts roll in.

Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)