Portfolio Update - August 2024

 The month of August 2024 involved a major news event in Canada.  

Around 10:00pm EST on August 21, both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific  Kansas City Railway (CPKC) locked out their employees as a result of collective bargain talks were not going well for several months.  Immediately after being locked out, the teamsters union for CPKC also went on strike.  The 2 major railroads in Canada stopped.

This was the first time ever, that the 2 railroads locked out their employees at the same time.

In the afternoon on September 22,  Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon announced he will use section 107 of the Canadian Labour Code. This means to refer the dispute to Canadian Industrial Relations Board for final binding arbitration.  

Immediately CN Rail employees took their pickets down and went back to work Friday, August 2023 in the early morning.  Later in the morning, the teamsters filed a 72hr strike notice for CN workers.  

CPKC kept their picket lines up until the Canadian Industrial Relations Board made a decision. The decision was announced on the afternoon of Saturday, August 24 that all railroads must start operating on Monday, August 26 at 12:01am.  Also, the strike and the future strike by teamsters for CN workers as been cancelled. 

CPKC went back to work on Monday, as the teamsters will abide legally with the ruling the the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. 

The teamsters is going to appeal, via the courts, the ruling by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board and the Labour minister.  

Both railways stated it will take several weeks to get caught up and more weeks to stabilize their operations. 

The S&P500 was up  1.68% over the past month.  

The S&P TSX Composite Index was up 2.50% over the past month.

Portfolio Activity

Margin Account Activity

There has been no activity on this account.  The naked put option on RCI.B.TO expired worthless.    

TFSA Activity

There has been no activity in this account.

Shares Purchased Via DRIP

3 shares of EMA.TO @ $49.80068 for a total cost of $149.40 CAD (Margin)

1 unit of KMP.UN @ $18.8935 for a total cost of $18.89 (TFSA)

1 unit of SRU.UN @ $24.0235 for a total cost of $24.02 (TFSA)

1 unit of REI.UN @ $17.41897 for a total cost of $17.42 CAD (TFSA)

1 share of FTS.TO @ $59.80129 for a total cost of $59.80 (TFSA)

2 units of BPF.UN @ $16.89482 for a total cost of $33.79 (TFSA)

Click To Enlarge

I have some other positions with the DRIP turned on but might not have enough of a dividend to purchase a whole share. 

My Enbridge position directly with the transfer agent is set up to DRIP.  Around November 2018, Enbridge stopped their DRIP program.  If Enbridge decides to start a DRIP, then my shares will start to DRIP again automatically.  

Dividend Increases

There was no dividend increases in August 2024.

Dividend Decreases

On August 9th,  Algonquin Power and Utilities decreased their dividend from $0.1085 USD to $0.065USD per share quarterly, or from $0.434 USD to $0.26 USD per share annually. This is a decrease of 40%.

I currently own 311 shares of Algonquin Power and Utilities (AQN.TO).  This decrease reduces my annual dividend income by $54.11 USD. 

On August 7, LS Power agreed to acquire the large scale Renewable Energy business of Algonquin Power and Utilities.  Algonquin Power and Utilities decrease their dividend as their future earnings will be smaller as a result of selling the renewable energy business.

 

Summary: 

As of September 7, 2024, the total value of the portfolio is $243554.96 CAD . This is a 2.69% increase over last month's total.  

The portfolio is estimated to produce an estimate $11632.29 CAD in dividend income over the next 12 months. This is an decrease of  of 95.23 CAD , or -0.812%. Some of the dividends in the Canadian stocks section are paid in US dollars, which are converted to Canadian dollars.

Chord Energy (CHRD) announced a dividend of $2.52 USD per share on August 7. This dividend consists of a base dividend of $1.25 USD per share and a variable dividend of $1.27 USD per share.  So, I updated the spreadsheet with the annualized dividend per share of $5.00 USD per share on the basis of the using the base dividend.  The variable dividend will vary with earnings quarter to quarter. 

Googlesheets is still not operating properly.  So, I had to manually enter the market value for the REITS, BEP.UN, BPF.UN, and AW.UN. 

 

Please Note: Positions in Enerplus Corporation (ERF.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) , Intertape Polymer Group (ITP.TO), Brookfield Renewables Corporation (BEPC.TO), and Algonquin Power and Utilities (AQN.TO)  pay dividends in US dollars. Brookfield Renewables Partners (BEP.UN) pays distributions in US dollars. My investment tab spreadsheet displays the Canadian dollar equivalent within 15 to 20 minutes of real time. 

Disclosure: Long aforementioned stocks

DISCLAIMER

I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant or tax attorney. The information on this blog represents my own thoughts and opinions and should NOT be taken as investment or business advice. Every individual should do their due diligence to make their own financial decisions based on their financial situation and tolerance for risk.ir financial situation and tolerance for risk.