The year is winding down to a close and with November resulting in another solid dividend income report, I will now review the movers and shakers to see how that might align with my dividend watch list.
It is always nice to add shares at a discounted price, however it is important to do your due diligence to confirm that there haven’t been fundamental changes to the business that might indicate additional risk.
Also, keep in mind that the numbers here are reflective of the stock performance overall and not in relation to my purchase price or holding.
Portfolio Losers
While we continued to see a good deal of volatility through November, it was not quite the same as what we saw in October. In many cases, for each step back there was a step to step and a half forward. As a result, there were not as many stocks in the red as what we saw during the month of October.
Out of the 47 positions currently in my dividend portfolio, there were 7 that were in the red.
During October, there were 28 positions in the red!
With fewer positions in the red, there was a greater percentage that had double-digit losses for the month with three of the seven positions seeing a loss in excess of 10%.
You may recall from my discussion about tracking portfolio performance that my spreadsheet will highlight any positions that have had a loss greater than 10% in a given month.
The 3 stocks with double-digit losses during November include the following:
- Apple declined by 18.12% for the month > If I were not currently overweight with Apple, I might be looking to add but I have a full position at an extremely attractive cost basis so I am sitting tight here.
- Altria Group declined by 15.70% for the month > This one is on my watch list and I may have missed my chance to add to my position yesterday. Today they made a splash into the cannabis market with their announcement to buy a 45% stake in Cronos, so I am watching closely for a dip to add shares.
- Target Corporation declined by 14.45% for the month > The drop in price did give me an opportunity to add to my position, and it is approaching a price where I will be looking to add some more.
The other four positions had modest declines, although Sabra Health Care was the worst with a decline of 8.91%.
With only 7 positions in the red, that means there were 40 that were in the green!
Portfolio Leaders
Out of the 40 positions that were in the green, there were a whopping 11 that exceeded the threshold of 10%+ gains for the month!
The market leaders were led by the following:
- AbbVie gained 21.09%
- Brinker International gained 17.83%
- Starbucks gained 15.12%
- Cracker Barrel gained 13.95%
- Meredith Corporation gained 12.13%
- Clorox gained 11.57%
- Cummins gained 11.39%
- Franklin Resources gained 11.11%
- Kimberly Clark gained 10.61%
- Iron Mountain gained 10.98%
- 3M gained 10.03%
There are a number of companies on this list that I have added to over recent months and some that I am continuing to watch for opportunities to add more.
The remaining 29 positions in the portfolio had single-digit increases with OGE Energy being the closest one to cracking the list above by turning in a 9.60% increase.
Closing Thoughts
Remember that with our long-term perspective on dividend growth investing, these month to month fluctuations tend to smooth out and we should not be overly concerned with the day to day, or even month to month, price movement.
As long as the fundamentals of the company and criteria that we used when making a purchase continue to hold true, the price movement of the market should not cause a great deal of concern. We want to see those dividends remain strong and consistent and look for the price movement to present attractive buying opportunities.
I am still looking to make some purchases here in December, and I do like seeing that a couple of my targets (no pun intended with Target on my watch list) have taken a hit and are trading at a discounted price.
How did your portfolio perform in November?
I added a little bit of cash to MO recently on the stocks weakness. It’s still my largest holding, so I don’t want to over do it. Also see they made a $2.4B investment in Cronos, a Canadian marijuana company which is pretty interesting for a US based company.
I’m right there with you, as MO is my 7th largest holding right now in my brokerage account. I do have an order in though and I think this move with Cronos and the interest in Juul are aggressive moves that will position them well.
Hey DivvyDad,
I think it’s nice that you started tracking your portfolio more closely monthly. I also review my positions at the end of this month but haven’t got such a handful tracker as you are using yet.
Out of your mentioned stocks, I m sharing SBUX and I noticed the rise during November.
It looks like December started with quite a lot of volatility, so we will see how we end the year.
BI
I’m a big fan of having as many data points as possible, and this is one I like to check as it can be an extra signal to do some more due diligence on the stocks that have had big declines. I’ve setup my spreadsheet so it automatically updates on the first of every month.
Divvy D –
I dig the movers and shakers, and pretty well timed with the end of that month, so that it’s not “old” news. Therefore, it’s fresh and I love it aka keep doing it!! Thank you Divvy.
-Lanny
Thanks Lanny, I meant to get it posted a little earlier in the month but gave priority to the dividend income report as that seems to be everyone’s favorite post across the DGI community.
Might be quite interesting for others to start tracking their portfolio like this too. I’d be very quick to jump onto the losers and lower my cost basis. For you Altria, Apple and Target don’t seem like such bad investments now I bet!
DI
Yep, when I see the big losers I do a sanity check to confirm that there haven’t been any major shifts in the company that I’m not aware of and assuming that things still look good, they find their way to my watch list. With the three you mentioned, I am looking to add to MO and TGT but AAPL is currently my largest holding with a cost basis under $23/share so I am not looking to add more right now.
Hey DD,
I’ve been taking a closer look at MO based on its recent weakness. The company has done a great job at rewarding shareholders over the years and I wouldn’t mind sharing in some of those big dividends.
AAPL is another one that has hit the radar (though I tend to shy away from tech, traditionally). The company is an absolute cash cow at the present time.
I did get a chance to pick up some ABBV, though I got in a bit late in the strong rally.
Take care,
Ryan
I like all three of those Ryan, however AAPL and ABBV are my top holdings by portfolio weight so I have been content to just hold what I have. I am looking to add some more MO at these price levels though, and if my order goes through then it will likely be in that same category.