Spring is here! Despite some freezing mornings and dreary days here in the Pacific Northwest, spring is tentatively advancing and winter is receding. Regarding the stock market, it has shown some volatility (especially in the tech sector), but it has been steadily trending upward.

So let’s do the numbers and see how March shaped up for dividend income:

AWP $ 44.00
BGY $ 33.80
CIK $ 22.50*
CLM $ 40.05*
DHY $ 27.13
EDF $ 20.00*
EHI $ 26.80
EXG $ 92.40*
HQL $193.50
NCV $ 29.75
PFN $ 36.00
USA $ 57.00
ZTR $ 24.00
TOTAL $646.93

* Includes Return of Capital

Well, that was a pretty month. While $646.93 didn’t set any new records for me, it is a pretty good return for the month.

Some good news and bad news. The bad news is that there was a dividend cut, with DHY cutting its monthly dividend from 1.65 cents per share to 1.55 cents (a -6.06% cut). It’s a modest cut, and its impact on my dividend income is mild (-$1.75/month). The good news is that there were two dividend increases in March. HQL raised its dividend from 40 cents per share to 43 cents (a 7.5% increase) and USA raised its dividend from 16 cents per share to 19 cents (a whopping 18.75% increase). One nice thing about dividend increases is that sometimes their increases are considerably better than the typical 2-3% annual pay increase that employees typically get. These two dividend increases serve to mitigate the dividend cut, so that certainly helps.

March also marks the end of Q1 2021. So how did I do for Q1? The total was $1978.92. In comparison, 2020 Q1 was $2517.72. However, it should be noted that January 2020’s total was something of a fluke given that payouts from AWP and USA were deferred from December 2019, thus January 2020 has a somewhat inflated total. Still, Q1 2021 further illustrates the continuing impact of dividend cuts, stock sales, and no new stock buys.

I also sold more stock in March because I needed the cash, but it was only 10 shares of CODI at $24.50 per share, so the impact on my dividend income was negligible (-$3.60 per quarter).

Overall, March was a pretty good month and I feel fairly satisfied with its dividend payout total.

Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)