Recent Purchases and Future Targeted Prospects

I’ve been making some more purchases over the past week or so, though, still not going all in on anything. Out of the four positions that I either added to or started (in the case of Disney), three of them are rather low yield, so not much was added in terms of total forward dividends. I’m in a mix of looking for value and diversifying where it makes sense to. As such, not all of my investments, are particularly value oriented…not that I’m chasing yield or high flying stocks with insane p/e.

In the case of Disney, I do feel that it is currently trading at an attractive valuation. Not insanely cheap but certainly something that I’ve wanted to own and hold on to. I should be easing more into this stock over the next few weeks, once I’ve finished paying off a few bills.

UNP was a DSPP that I signed up for over two years ago, got in money at good prices, but shut off the tap and never finished building a ‘full position’. My current share cost is in the $80’s and it’s trading closer to $120 today, which is a nice gain on those shares. I’m debiting $50 from my bank account every two weeks to buy more UNP, at least until I’ve brought up the total or until the end of this year, before I reevaluate. A dividend increase should be coming soon from Union Pacific, also.

I bought 1 more share of Visa through Folio First to bring my total to just over 5 shares. Is this a value play? Not in my opinion, but I don’t see it insanely overpriced or anything either based on the new earnings report. Just another company that I want to hold onto long-term and use for further diversification. I’m going to buy a few shares here and there on a regular basis. Then, if a pull back takes place, load up to a larger position.

I’m still dripping money into my Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund. It’s crazy how much this position has gone up over the past year, which is to be expected, but the gains on older shares have been unreal.

On my targets list, well, it’s pretty slim. Disney is on there, as I wrote above, but there isn’t all that much that I’m finding attractive enough to buy. However, there are some things that are becoming more interesting, and may become buys in the near future. PG has pulled back to the $86-87 range, which isn’t attractive enough to buy more yet, but if it goes into the low $80s I will pick up some more shares. Colgate-Palmolive is in the same boat but I’m wanting to initiate a position in the low $60s and see what’s up from there.

DPS has popped up on my radar as one to watch as it trades around 52 week lows. Still not convinced that it is all that cheap but I’m going to take a closer look and kick the tires a bit. Dr.Pepper Snapple does have a great DSPP that is basically free to invest in after the initial $15(?) set up fee.

Other than that, I have begun tracking several European stocks and a few new domestic ones, to try and shake out some value. It’s getting tough and I don’t want to just throw cash at things just to say, “I’m growing my portfolio and dividend income”. I’m happy creating new cash flows, having a stash ready to invest, and finding other things to invest in other than the stock market.

Oh and I just crossed the $400 mark in yearly dividends with this latest batch.

Purchases

DIS- 2.03308 shares for $200

UNP- 0.884602 shares for $100

VTSMX- 1.517 shares for $97.11

V- 1.00751 shares for $110

Total Invested: $507.11

Increase in Forward Dividends: $7.65

Glad that I’ve bought into these positions, but man, that yield sucks. I remember back in 2016 buying the equivalent in Royal Dutch Shell shares would’ve yielded over $50 in yearly dividends. Hopefully there’s some kind of pull back (at least among some individual stocks) soon, so I can grab both value and yield, at the same time.