Saturday, February 29, 2020

Portfolio Update - February 2020

The month of February 2020 now behind us.  Some major things have happened in the world, which affect the markets in some way.

The Alberta Court of Appeal voted 4 to 1 against the carbon tax, which the federal government implemented on January 1, 2020.  The implementation of this carbon tax meant their was a price on carbon in each province in Canada.  The federal carbon remains in Alberta as of the time of this writing.  The federal government will challenge the carbon tax at the Supreme Court of Canada.  Ontario and Saskatchewan are going to the Supreme Court of Canada after their respective Court of Appeal voted that the federal government has the right to put a carbon tax in place.

The Conoravirus which started in China has been spreading across the globe.  It is not an epidemic yet, but this is believed to cause investors to sell their positions.  As of this date, there is no vaccine and a vaccine is believed to be a year away.

In Canada, the a few hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation said no to a natural gas pipeline going through their territory.  The Wet'suwet'en First Nation's territory is located in British Columbia.  The band council and most people of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation want the pipeline through their territory as it would create jobs.  RCMP were already set up a location on this territory to help maintain peace due to contruction of the coastal gas pipeline being constructed through Wet'suwet'en territory.  Protestors started blocking major railway routes across Canada including the CN Rail line going through  Wet'suwet'en territory.  This has lead to layoffs at CN Rail and the national passenger train Via Rail. CP Rail and CN Rail cannot not runs their trains as per normal operations.  

These protests are by people in support of the hereditary chiefs of Wet'suwet'en First Nation that do not want the natural gas pipeline going through their territory.  Some of the protestors said they will remove their blockades if the RCMP move out of Wet'suwet'en territory.  Currently right now, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and her counter part in British Columbia are in meeting with the heriditary chiefs the last few days and talks are continuing. 

The markets across the world fell a lot during the last week, mostly over concerns of the coronavirus.   

Portfolio Activity

Margin Account Activity

There was no buys or sells in the margin account for February

Cineplex annoucement that their shareholders voted in favor of selling Cineplex to Cineworld for $34 per share.  The deal also was approved by regulators and is expected to close in the first half of 2020.

TFSA Activity

On February 27, TD Bank (TD.TO) reported their earnings. The earnings lead to the stock falling which also took into effect the fears of the Coronavirus, despite declaring a dividend increase of 6.76%.  I put my money to work and purchased shares of TD.  I purchased 17 shares of TD.TO at $69.45 for a total cost of $1185.66 including commissions.  

TD Bank pays a quarterly dividend of $0.79 per share, or $3.16 per share annually.  This purchase adds $53.72 CAD to my annual dividend income.  The yield on cost for this purchase is 4.53%.

Shares Purchased Via DRIP

1 unit of BPF.UN  @ $13.3035 for a total cost of $13.30 (TFSA)
0.565551 shares of BNS @ $72.6195 for a total cost of $41.07 (Transfer agent)

Currently, Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund pays a monthly distribution of $0.102 per unit, or $1.224 per unit annually.  This DRIP adds $1.22 to my annual dividend income.  The yield on this DRIP unit is 9.20%.

Bank of Nova Scotia paid a dividend on January 29.  The shares did not settle in my account as of the time of last portfolio update.  Currently, BNS pays a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, or $3.60 per share annually.  This DRIP adds $2.04 to my annual dividend income.  The yield on cost of this DRIP is 4.96%

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

Please note that if some brokerages DRIP shares when there is no DRIP program by the actual company. This DRIP is when the brokerage buys the shares directly off the public market stock exchanges.

Dividend Increases

On February 6, Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE.TO) increased their quarterly dividend from $0.7925 to $0.8325 per share, or $3.17 to $3.33 per share annually.  This is an increase of 5.05%.  I own 100 shares of BCE.TO.  This increase adds $16.00 CAD to my annual dividend income. 

On February 10, Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) increased their quarterly dividend from $0.50 USD to $0.52 USD, or $2.00 USD to $2.08 USD annually.  This is an increase of 4.00%.  I own 100 shares of QSR.TO. This increase adds $8.00 USD to my annual dividend income. This increase is equivalent to $10.73 CAD, as of the time of this writing. 

On February 12, Killam Properties REIT increased their monthly distribution from $0.055 per unit to $0.057 per unit, or $0.66 to $0.68 per unit annually.  This is an increase of 3.03%.  I own 302 units of KMP.UN. This increase adds $6.04 to my annual dividend income. 

On February 20, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) increased their quarterly dividend from $1.05 to $1.08 per share, or $4.20 to $4.30 per share annually.  This is an increase of 2.86%. I own 56 shares of RY.TO.  This increase adds $6.72 to my annual dividend income.  Royal Bank of Canada has been doing semi-annual dividend raises for the past several years.

On February 26, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce "C.I.B.C" (CM.TO) increased their quarterly dividend from $1.44 to $1.46 per share, or $5.76 to $5.84 per share annually.  This is an increase of 1.389%. I own 110 shares of CM.TO.  This increase adds $8.80 to my annual dividend income. CIBC has been doing semi-annual dividend raises for the past several years. 

On February 27, TD Bank (TD.TO) increased their quarterly dividend from $0.74 to $0.79 per share, or $2.96 to $3.16 per share annually.  This is an increase of 
6.76%.  Excluding the purchase as per above, I owned 45 shares of TD.TO.  This increase adds $9.00 to my annual dividend income.
 
Dividend Decreases

On February 13, Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund decreased their monthly distribution from $0.115 to $0.102 per unit, or $1.38 to $1.224 per unit annually.  This represents a decrease of 11.3%.  I owned 235 at the time of this annoucement.  This decrease substracts $36.66.

Summary:
 
As of February 29, 2020 , the total value of the portfolio is $123925.72 CAD. This is a 5.43% decrease over last month's total. This decrease is a result of the market sell off over the past trading week.

The dividend increases have increased my annual dividend income by $57.29 CAD. This is equivalent of investing $1636.86 of my own money at 3.5%. 

The dividend decrease reduced my annual dividend income by $36.66.  

The portfolio is estimated to produce an estimated $5749.57 in dividend income over the next 12 months. This is an increase of $83.07 , or 1.466%. Some of the dividends in the Canadian stocks section are paid in US dollars, which are converted to Canadian dollars. 

Disclosure: Long all aforementioned stocks 

Please Note: Positions in Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) and Intertape Polymer Group (ITP.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.

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.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Recent Dividend Increase


Investing in a dividend growth stock has a few great rewards.  Of course, the most important is the increase in the dividend means more money in your pocket.   When a dividend increase is announced, it signals to investors that a company awarded investors for a good few quarters and believe the next few quarters will be great for the company.

On February 21, Royal Bank of Canada reported their earnings.  Royal Bank of Canada trades on both the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RY.

With this earnings report, Royal Bank announced an increase in their quarterly dividend from $1.05 to $1.08 per share, or from $4.20 to $4.32 per share annually.  This represents an increase of 2.86%.  This increase might seem small, but Royal Bank has been announcing dividend increases semi-annually for the past several years.

I own 56 shares of RY.TO inside my TFSA.  This dividend raise increased my $6.72 to my annual dividend income.

During the last quarter, Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) announced they will be going to annual dividend raises starting with Q2 earnings release in 2020.  TD Bank (TD_has been doing annual dividend raises for the past several years.  I believe the other 3 big 5 banks might change to annual dividend raises in the next couple of years.

Disclosure: Long RY, BNS, TD

Photo Credit : royalbank.com

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.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Results of Recent Poll

Towards the end of last month, I put a poll on my twitter feed. The results are as per the graphic below.  This is a snapshot of my tweet .




As per the graphic, 159 voted in the poll that was conducted over a 72 hour period.

The winner was Canadian National Railway, or CN Rail.  

CN Rail 

CN Rail trades under the ticker symbol CNR on the Toronto Stock Exchange and CNI on the New York Strong Exchange.  CN Rail is headquartered in Canada.  It is often said to be the best Class 1 railroad in North America. CN Rail serves 3 coasts.  These 3 coasts are the west coast and east coast of Canada, and the Gulf Coast of the United States.

The railroads have a huge barrier to entry due to the costs involved to start a railway and other things like land acquisition.

Brookfield Renewables

Brookfield Renewables Partners LP trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BEP.UN.  The company also trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BEP.  This company is the biggest player in the renewable energy space.  Climate Change is believed to be the biggest challenge of our time.

Some of the other players in this space in Canada have done very well as of last.  These companies are Transalta Renewables (RNW.TO) and New Flyer Group (NFI.TO).  New Flyer Group is actually a bus manufacturer.  As more and more municipalities have ordered buses to replace the existing fleets, they are ordering electric buses instead of diesel buses.  In some cases, the buses could be recharged through wind power or solar power.

Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank is biggest of the big 5 banks.  The stock trades on both Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RY.   Over the last couple of years, Royal Bank has reported on average net income around $3 billion per quarter.  Royal Bank is Canada's biggest bank by market capitalization.

TD Bank Group

The TD Bank Group consists of Toronto Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries.  This company is headquartered in Canada and has a big presence in the United States.  TD Bank Group trades on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TD.

Conclusion

My first choice would be CN Rail.  With the large moat and the importance of this railway to both Canada and the United States.  CN Rail is the only railway that serves the Port Of Halifax on the east side of Canada and Port of Prince Rupert on the west coast of Canada.  CN Rail's biggest shareholder is Bill Gates, who we all know as the former CEO and co-founder of Microsoft.  

Disclosure: Long CNR, TD, RY, BEP.UN


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.