In June 2011 I invested my money equally in a selection of 10 high-yield dividend stocks. With a year of success behind me, in July 2012, I added even more money to the portfolio. Those names offer triple the yield of the average S&P 500 stock. You can read all the details here. Now let’s check out the results so far.
| Company | Cost Basis | Shares | Yield | Total Value | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern | $39.71 | 25.0818 | 4.3% | $1,139.47 | 14.4% |
| Exelon | $41.36 | 28.818 | 3.6% | $971.17 | (18.5%) |
| National Grid | $48.90 | 20.3693 | 5.7% | $1,146.59 | 15.1% |
| Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) | $68.49 | 14.5429 | 3.7% | $1,324.13 | 32.9% |
| Ryman Hospitality (NYSE:RHP) | $44.93 | 24.7 | 4.3% | $1,124.34 | 1.3% |
| Plum Creek Timber (NYSE:PCL) | $38.42 | 26 | 3.4% | $1,304.94 | 30.6% |
| Brookfield Infrastructure Partners | $26.12 | 38.2825 | 4.5% | $1,430.62 | 43.1% |
| Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) | $26.75 | 56.7566 | 5.6% | $1,580.10 | 4.1% |
| Seaspan | $15.24 | 95 | 6.6% | $1,886.70 | 30.4% |
| AT&T | $35.20 | 28.4 | 5.0% | $1,026.66 | 2.7% |
| Retail Opportunity Investments | $12.20 | 81.95 | 4.4% | $1,120.26 | 12.0% |
| Annaly (NYSE:NLY) Preferred C | $25.98 | 38.5 | 7.4% | $992.53 | (0.5%) |
| Cash | $231.79 | ||||
| Dividends Receivable | $59.74 | ||||
| Original Investment | $12,983.97 | ||||
| Total Portfolio | $15,339.03 | 18.1% | |||
| Investment in SPY (including dividends) | 18.4% | ||||
| Relative Performance (percentage points) | (0.3) |
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
The portfolio is up 18.1% since we began this experiment, a modest gain of 0.1% from last week. But we made a substantial gain on the S&P, moving from 2.2% points back to just 0.3. That’s an example of the kind of outperformance we expect in rough markets.
Fellow Fool John Maxfield had an intriguing take on Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY)‘s proposal to convert its management structure from internal to external. He sees that as a way for executives to move their very high salaries away from public scrutiny. As a holder of the preferred stock, I’m less concerned about this than a common-stock shareholder should be.
Two weeks ago, I traded this portfolio’s Annaly common for shares in Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (REIT) (NYSE:RHP), a very attractively placed REIT with a solid yield of more than 4%. It compares very favorably to lodging peers but its valuation doesn’t reflect it yet. Management is buying back $100 million in stock and will keep buying until the stock is valued near its peers. You can read more on this fascinating special situation here. I’m continuing to look for a favorable spread — at least $0.40 — between the Series C and Series D preferreds, and then I’ll switch my ownership position to the Series D.
The rumors continue to swirl around some type of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)–Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) deal, whether that takes the form of a buyout or perhaps just the purchase of Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD)’s 45% stake of their joint wireless venture. We know Verizon has been trying to acquire this asset for the past couple of years, and negotiations have been at different levels of depth. With Verizon in serious need of income to pay its dividend, I think this deal will happen sooner rather than later. Hedge fund titan David Einhorn owns a stake in Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) and thinks it is cheap.
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) is developing a trio of products for its existing brands, including one product that heats tobacco instead of burning it, ostensibly a safer innovation. These products wouldn’t be on the shelves until 2016-2017, but the company is deciding now where to place the manufacturing facility. The move comes amid increased global scrutiny on smoking, even in traditionally tobacco-friendly places such as Russia.
Dividends and earnings announcements
Here is the recent news on earnings and dividends:
Dividend news:
Frontier went ex-dividend on March 6 and pays out $0.10 per share on March 28.
Brookfield Infrastructure went ex-dividend on Feb. 26 and pays out $0.43 per share on March 29.
Annaly Series C went ex-dividend on Feb. 27 and pays out almost $0.48 per share on April 1.
ROIC went ex-dividend on March 13 and pays out almost $0.15 per share on March 29.
All that, of course, means more money coming into our pockets.
It’s fun to sit back and get paid, and with the market volatility, we might have a good chance to reinvest those dividends at good prices. Europe continues to be an absolute mess, and continued bad news will likely have stocks plunging again, and if they do, I’ll be inclined to pick more shares up.
Foolish bottom line
I’ve been a fan of big dividends for a while, and I think this portfolio will outperform the market over time through the power of dividends. As I promised in the original article, I’ll continue to track and report on the portfolio’s progress, including news on these companies.
The article The World’s Best Dividend Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com.
Jim Royal, Ph.D., owns shares of the 12 portfolio stocks mentioned in the table. The Motley Fool owns shares of Seaspan, Brookfield Infrastructure, ROIC, and Annaly. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Vodafone, ROIC, National Grid, Brookfield Infrastructure, Exelon, Annaly, and Southern. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating a write covered straddle position in Exelon. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating a covered straddle position in Seaspan.
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