In June 2011 I invested my money equally among a selection of 10 high-yield dividend stocks. With a year of success behind me, in July 2012, I added even more money to the portfolio. Those names offer triple the yield of the average S&P 500 stock. You can read all the details here. Now let's check out the results so far.
Company | Cost Basis | Shares | Yield | Total Value | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern | $39.71 | 25.0818 | 4.1% | $1,205.93 | 21.1% |
| Exelon | $41.36 | 23.818 | 5.5% | $1,123.33 | (5.7%) |
| National Grid | $48.90 | 20.3693 | 5.7% | $1,048.20 | 5.2% |
| Philip Morris International | $68.49 | 14.5429 | 3.5% | $1,288.50 | 29.4% |
| Annaly Capital | $17.92 | 65.5 | 12.7% | $1,135.12 | (3.3%) |
| Frontier Communications | $7.88 | 126.4243 | 11.1% | $458.29 | (54%) |
| Plum Creek Timber | $38.42 | 26 | 4.3% | $1,038.44 | 4% |
| Brookfield Infrastructure Partners | $26.12 | 38.2825 | 4.5% | $1,310.79 | 31.1% |
| Vodafone | $26.52 | 37.5566 | 5% | $1,064.92 | 6.9% |
| Seaspan | $14.90 | 76 | 6.7% | $1,143.04 | 0.9% |
| AT&T | $35.20 | 28.4 | 5% | $1,030.92 | 3.1% |
| Retail Opportunity Investments | $12.20 | 81.95 | 4.3% | $991.60 | (0.8%) |
| Annaly Preferred C | $25.92 | 38.5 | 7.5% | $980.98 | (1.7%) |
| Cash | $135.34 | ||||
| Dividends receivable | $79.20 | ||||
| Original investment | $12,983.97 | ||||
| Total portfolio | $14,034.59 | 8.1% | |||
| Investment in SPY (including dividends) | 6.6% | ||||
| Relative performance (percentage points) | 1.5 |
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
Our portfolio was down this week, moving from 8.7% last week to 8.1% this week. But we gained on the S&P benchmark, increasing our outperformance from 0.9 percentage points to 1.5 -- exactly the type of widening we should expect to see in downward markets. The ongoing euro crisis continues to have markets on edge, and I can see why. Our blended yield is 5.9%.
With more than $100 in cash in the account, I'd like to reinvest these funds into one of our stocks. Fools, which one of the above stocks should it be? I'm leaning toward Annaly
Insiders at Frontier Communications
The ongoing heat wave has sent nuclear-energy production to a nine-year low -- not good news for Exelon
Dividends and other announcements
We're at the start of earnings season, and we have only a little dividend news for the moment.
Earnings news:
- Southern
(NYSE: SO)
Dividend news:
- National Grid went ex-dividend on May 30 and pays out $2.017 per share on August 15.
- Vodafone went ex-dividend on June 6 and pays out $1.015 per share on August 1.
- Annaly went ex-dividend on June 27 and paid out $0.55 per share on July 26.
All that, of course, means more money coming into our pockets.
It's fun to sit back and get paid, and with the market volatility, we might have a good chance to reinvest those dividends at good prices. Europe continues to be an absolute mess, and continued bad news will likely see stocks plunge again, and if they do, I'll be inclined to pick more shares up.
Foolish bottom line
I've been a fan of big dividends for a while, and I think this portfolio will outperform the market over time through the power of dividends. As I promised in the original article, I'll be holding these stocks for at least a year and will continue to track the portfolio and news on these companies over the course of the year.
If you like dividends, consider the 10 tickers above, along with the nine names mentioned in a brand-new free report from Motley Fool's expert analysts: "Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks." Today I invite you to download it at no cost to you. To get instant access to the names of these nine high-yielders, simply click here -- it's free.
