It feels odd to be writing my December portfolio update right now in late January, but it’s been a busy few weeks and it’s better late than never.
The holiday period was a bit of a whirlwind, so I’m piecing this together as I watch the AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills.
Life is good.
Table of Contents
Dividend Summary
December always turns out to be a solid month on the dividend-front. This time around, I earned Canadian income from sixteen companies and U.S. income from six companies.
CAD Dividends
| Company | CAD Payments ($) | Dividend Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI.UN) | 31.32 | |
| The Coca-Cola Company (KO) | 69.49 | |
| Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | 82.03 | |
| Corby Spirit and Wine Ltd. (CSW.B) | 66.00 | 10.00 |
| Fortis, Inc. (FTS) | 80.80 | 5.76 |
| Canadian Utilities Limited (CU) | 102.32 | |
| Canadian National Railway Company (CNR) | 25.88 | |
| Hydro One Ltd (H) | 65.94 | |
| Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN) | 5.10 | |
| Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (BEP.UN) | 106.91 | |
| Brookfield Renewable Corporation (BEPC) | 26.45 | |
| Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.A) | 3.36 | |
| Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (BIP.UN) | 12.58 | |
| Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (BIPC) | 1.26 | |
| A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund (AW.UN) | 12.00 | |
| Enbridge Inc. (ENB) | 20.25 |
USD Dividends
| Company | USD Payments ($) | Dividend Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Waste Management, Inc. (WM) | 23.17 | |
| McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) | 23.03 | 3.20 |
| Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) | 15.59 | |
| Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC) | 3.98 | |
| Visa Inc. (V) | 4.08 | 6.67 |
| Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) | 6.19 | 9.80 |
I pulled in C$711.69 and U$76.04 in dividends, coming together for a monthly-record currency-neutral total of $787.73. Having December be my strongest month always feels great as it means ending the year on a strong note.
Standouts
It goes without saying that 2020 has been a challenging business year with the COVID-19 pandemic hammering global economies. Nevertheless, light began to beam through as the calendar-year waned.
CSW-B restored its dividend to pre-pandemic levels of C$0.66 per quarter. This amounts to a 10% raise from the C$0.60 it had been cut to. For my portfolio, that’s an extra C$6.00 every three months. I’ll take it.
Likewise, YUMC brought back its U$0.12 quarterly dividend. It’s a small contribution to my portfolio—ringing in at U$3.98—but every bit helps.
Disney Investor Day on December 10 was huge. It was impossible not to absolutely love the quality and quantity of the content they announced. Four episodes of “Wandavision” have already been released, broadening the Marvel Comic Universe. I’ve been enjoying it myself and look forward to seeing more.
While Disney no longer pays a dividend as it focuses cash flows into the streaming entity, I continue to hold the shares I purchased back in 2019 for the growth. I believe the company is making the right moves to solidify a bright future.
Here’s how the dividend graph stacks up with the most recent month towering above:
Year To Date Progress
High-performing businesses continued to deliver across the entire year. As such, I earned $5,749.34 in dividends:
| Month | Dividends ($) |
|---|---|
| January | 494.10 |
| February | 86.82 |
| March | 697.25 |
| April | 691.94 |
| May | 82.94 |
| June | 708.70 |
| July | 651.30 |
| August | 86.94 |
| September | 701.85 |
| October | 668.33 |
| November | 91.44 |
| December | 787.73 |
| Total | 5,749.34 |
This represents 16.39% growth over 2019. I’m optimistic about what can be expected in the coming year as the macro environment normalizes and vaccines begin to roll out globally.
Market Activity and Cash
I continued building my cash position through December. I didn’t see any screaming-buys and so decided the sidelines were better suited for the time being.
After building back up my stockpile since a stock buying-frenzy in March, I would be happy to aggressively deploy capital early this year as opportunities permit.
Conclusion
December turned out to be a great month—better than might have been expected in the first half of the year as the investing climate turned rocky.
The lesson to be retained in all of this is that top notch companies are the place to be. When you hold best of breed investments, you don’t need to lose sleep when the wolves come knocking.
All things considered, it’s great to have companies reinstating their dividends. I will fervently redeploy those dividends to keep the compounding engine churning.
Thanks for stopping by.
– Ryan
Full Disclosure: Long REI-UN, KO, JNJ, CSW-B, FTS, CU, CNR, H, CSH-UN, BEP-UN, BEPC, BAM-A, BIP-UN, BIPC, AW-UN, ENB, WM, MCD, YUM, YUMC, MSFT, and DIS
Nice Ryan
Congrats on another great month. Curious why are jnj and ko in your Canadian dividends?
Im with you with Disney, their growth looks good. I didnt follow wandavision much when I was younger so I was a little lost the first couple episodes but its turning out to be great after a few.
Cheers.
Hey Rob,
I bought JNJ and KO back when my discount broker (TD at the time) wouldn’t let me hold USD denominated investments within my TFSA. So, I bought them in CAD and that’s how the dividends are paid to me. I suppose it’d make sense at some point to change this, but I don’t mind receiving the income in CAD while the exchange is so lopsided.
Yeah, I didn’t know anything about Wandavision, either, but I’ve been enjoying that series.
Take care,
Ryan