The month of May. Well, it wasn’t exactly the month of Theresa May. To say the least… But May was certainly a good month for me. Last month I wrote that a monthly dividend income higher than $200 seemed to be the new normal. In fact, I hope to touch the amount of $300 any time soon. That would be a huge milestone for me; just steamrolling forward 💪

Income numbers

For this month my total amount of dividend income was $291.38. As I wrote a record high and the fourth month in 2019 above the $200 threshold. Crossing the $300 barrier is well within reach, hopefully in August. I already notice the snowball effect taking place; every month I have more money to invest, because of the increasing number of stocks and higher dividend amounts per share.

Three companies paid me more than last quarter as a consequence of a raise. Apple (AAPL) increased its quarterly dividend from $0.73/share to $0.77/share, representing a 5.5% annual dividend increase. May included the first payment of $0.77/share. Good ol’ Realty Income (O) paid me $3.84, just a penny more than in February. Tanger Factory Outlets (SKT) paid me $0.355/share, which comes down to a 1.4% increase from prior dividend of $0.35. Delta Airlines (DAL) switched their month of pay date so that’s a bit of a cheat. They paid me $8.05 for this quarter.

The only business paying me more than a quarter ago because of a bigger position was CVS Caremark (CVS) which paid $17.00 (instead of $6.00). Here’s the breakdown:

Apple (AAPL) – $16.94

Abbvie (ABBV) – $18.19

CVS Caremark (CVS) – $17.00

Delta Airlines (DAL) – $8.05

Realty Income (O) – $3.84

Omega Healthcare (OHI) – $66.00

Starbucks (SBUX) – $16.92

Tanger Factory Outlets (SKT) – $51.83

AT&T (T) – $85.68

Texas Instruments (TXN) – $6.93

This makes the total amount of dividend income for this month a nice $291.38. My dividend income in February 2019 was $270.71 so that’s a small increase of 8% QoQ. My passive income for May 2018 was $153.68 so that’s an increase of 90% YoY. This means another high double-digit growth number, I love it! Here is the graph that shows all monthly dividends YTD as compared to last year:

Transactions during May

I bought 22 stocks of 3M (MMM) in only two weeks. I like this company very much; they have a streak of 61 years increasing their dividends. Including this transaction I now own 26 stocks for an average price of $172.44. My first stocks were bought at a price slightly above $192. I added to my small position in four different chunks:

Looking Forward

This is my fourth month with a dividend income above $200. And I’m already on my way to realize the target of getting my first dividend income of $300+ in 2019.

My stake in the tobacco industry has come under pressure again after Nielsen tracking data indicated that cigarette industry volume fell 11.2% in the 4-week period ending on May 18 to mark a deceleration from the -9.5% 12-week pace, according to Wells Fargo. Not a good sign, but I’m sure MO and PM will prosper eventually. MO looks very attractive again at these price levels.

I earned $1,178.93 in dividend income YTD. That’s a big number, imho. I collected this income number three months earlier than in 2018.

Please let me know which stocks you bought. Did you buy 3M (MMM)? Was May a good month in terms of dividend income numbers?

Thanks for reading.