Last month turned out to have a surplus of buying opportunities thanks to the market volatility that occurred, and allowed me to not only add to existing positions but also establish a new position.
As we are about a week into the new month, we are still seeing some market swings where stocks are up for a day or two and then have a modest pullback. It hasn’t been quite as volatile as what we saw in October, but I do believe there are still opportunities to add quality dividend stocks at reasonable prices.
The downside from October was that there were more buying opportunities than I had capital to go around, and some of the companies on my watch list now have already had a decent recovery from their lows over the last month.
Here are a few that I am keeping an eye on this month:
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Founded in 1872, Kimberly-Clark has been become one of the largest global manufacturers of tissue and hygiene related products with some of their more well-known brands being Huggies, Kleenex, Cottonelle, Scott, and Kotex.
During the month of October, $KMB saw prices decline nearly 11% and currently pays a $4.00/share annual dividend. They have a streak of increasing their dividend successfully for the last 46 years as well, and have been growing their dividend in the neighborhood of 5% over the last 5-10 years.
With the recent price decline, their current dividend yield is at 3.73% and that is approximately 20% above their 5-year average yield. Their P/E ratio is at 16.2 and that is not only below their 5-year average ratio but also below the Consumer Staples sector as a whole. While the price was much more attractive at the low in October around $102/share, I still find them attractive at current prices.
Kellogg
Kellogg was on my October Watch List and the price is right in that range that I mentioned that I’d like to be adding to my position.
In addition, I am drawn to Kellogg as it is currently one of my more underweight positions in my portfolio. Their dividend yield has bumped up to 3.44% since I last looked at them and this is about 15% above their 5-year average yield of 3.00%.
Given that this position is underweight in my portfolio and I find the price to be quite attractive here, I expect that Kellogg may be one of the first that I look to buy here in November.
Exxon Mobile Corporation
Exxon is another company that was on my last watch list, however at the time I noted that I really wanted to see the price down below $80/share but didn’t expect we would see those levels.
The crazy ride in October did see the price drop below $80/share, but unfortunately I was deploying capital elsewhere and wasn’t able to add any shares. Exxon Mobile has a 36-year track record of increasing dividends but with a more modest growth rate. With the current price movement, their yield is at 4.01% and that is hard to resist.
While the share price has recovered and moved back above $80.00, I will remain patient and watch for a dip that will allow me to add more to my position.
Additional Stocks to Watch
While I will be focusing on the three stocks above, there are a handful of others that continue to be on my watch list and look attractive right now.
I’ve been watching Prudential Financial for a couple of months and they are another one that dropped down to a very attractive price in October but I wasn’t able to pull the trigger.
I am also keeping an eye on OGE Energy Corporation, as they have a respectable 12-year history of increasing their dividend and most recently raised the dividend by nearly 10% back in September. With a current yield of 3.87% I believe that they are close to fairly valued right now.
One last company that I’ve been monitoring is Disney. While they are a low-yield stock, they have generally had very robust growth and with their plans to enter into the streaming market I think they may make some noise given their library of entertainment. The price is a little high for my taste right now, but should they come down around $110/share I may be a buyer.
Wrapping Up
We went from a quiet month in September to one that had an excess of buying opportunities in October–to the point where there were more stocks that I wanted to buy than I had capital to deploy.
The stock market seems to be calming down a little bit, however I do believe we will continue to see the ups and downs that should present attractive prices.
While I don’t expect that I will be able to deploy nearly as much capital as I did in October, I am looking forward to making some purchases with a focus on some of the more underweight positions in my portfolio.
What is on your radar for November?
Thanks for the insightful post divvyDad. Always on the lookout for new worthwhile companies to invest in. You’ve inspired me to take a position in Kimberly-Clark once funds permit. Plus with a near 4% yield, it’s hard to pass up on this one.
You’re welcome Dr. D, I’m hopeful the price pulls back a little as I’d like to add KMB closer to the $105-106 range.
Hi DD. I added to KMB this spring at just shy of a 4% yield. I still like it here and now. I’ve owned XOM for a long time, but have not added to it for quite some time. I was looking at oil stocks early this year as well, but did not pull the trigger.
I like your graphs for KMB and XOM. Question. Where did you source them from?
I was looking at adding to ABBV again, but it rallied hard and got away from me before I purchased. I have not been a very aggressive buyer this year.
Tom
Thanks Tom, those graphs are from Simply Safe Dividends. It is not a free service but I have found that it brings a lot of the data I was looking up elsewhere into a tidy package thereby saving me some time.
I am liking KMB and XOM a bit more than K right now, as I think the latter has some headwinds to deal with so I added a bit more margin of safety to my target price for them. I’ll be watching the former two closely this week to see if they provide me a price that I want.
Yeah, ABBV was looking really, really nice as it dipped down below $80/share.
Hi DivvyDad,
Thanks for the list, I will consider some of those (already own some XOM). I missed the opportunities in October as I didn’t want to purchase anything more at my current broker (where I pay high commissions and 30% tax on dividends). I should be ready to go with a new broker next week, though, and I have a few candidates for my next purchase. I am looking at ABBV, TXN, TD, ITW but not sure about the exact company yet.
BI
You’re welcome BI, and I think that makes sense to wait for the transition to the new broker if you’ll be saving on commissions (and hopefully the tax too). The list you have shared is a great list of companies, and I know many of them have been quite popular across the DGI community.
Of the group you highlighted, I’ve only been watching XOM, as it’s one I own. I also like XOM below $80/sh. I don’t think I’d add any though as I like it’s weighting in my portfolio right now.
I had my eye on DIS when it was in the low $100s months ago, hoping it might dip under $100, but alas it did not. I think they had a nice earnings report the other day and perhaps put your price target further out of reach for now. I know you will stay patient.
Yeah, there are a few positions that have looked attractive but I am happy with my weighting or even a little overweight so I have refrained. I’d love to see DIS back at where I bought originally.
Definitely will remain patient.
I’ve also been watching XOM. I haven’t added to my position in XOM since March when it reached its 52 week lows. I also have been watching ABBV and IRM. I will be adding a few shares to IRM over the next couple months if prices remain relatively stable.
All very solid choices Kody, and ABBV was on my list last month but as they are overweight in my portfolio right now I’ve decided to add elsewhere.
Any reason you specifically chose oge energy ,how do you like arc or some others
I didn’t consider ARC Resources ($ARX.TO – assuming that is who you meant) because I have decided to focus on stocks that will minimize any foreign tax implications for right now.
As far as OGE, I found them to be a well managed company and I like that they have been transitioning to more renewable energy over the last few years. They have a nice track record with the dividend and their growth has been ~10%+ fairly consistently.