Latest Stock Buys Since May
If you haven’t seen my income reports, I’ve been making some nice extra income and I always invest this for passive income in the form of dividends. Here are some of my latest stock buys with the extra cash.
How Do I Invest?
I’m still pretty new at investing so I usually try to invest $60 bi-weekly through dollar-cost-averaging. The idea that if I maintain a consistent schedule investing, I’ll be both investing in the worst of times and best of times of the stock market. This is much better than trying to time the market (that doesn’t work).
I invest using the Robinhood App so I don’t have to pay any fees, especially since I invest so little at a time.
How much have my investments made so far?
Before I go in my recent stock buys, I should share how much I’ve made so far to justify why I continue to invest. I started investing in September, 2015. That was my first stock market purchase ever! I invested $581.98 into a couple different stocks. Since then, I’ve continued to invest a little at a time as I earn extra money.
Since September, 2015 I have invested a total $7,437.81. That’s a hell of a lot to me! However the stock market continues to be my best income generator. My portfolio value is currently worth $8,615.56. So I have gained 16.65% in value. Not bad for someone who just started less than 1.5 years ago!
Of course, there are highs and lows, but as long as you continue to invest in the highs and lows, traditionally the stock market continues to make 7% per year. Plus I always make dividends each month.
Latest Stock Buys since May
Apple (AAPL)
I picked up Apple (AAPL) back in May when the price was $91.18. This was the time people were freaking out that Apple hasn’t released any new products and feared that current customers would lose interest in their current iPhones. iPhones are one of their largest sources of revenue for Apple, so because phone revenue was leveling off, people saw this as the end of Apple.
That was a ridiculous notion, so I bought 1 share. Yea, that’s right, I only bought one because I didn’t have the money at the time to buy any more. It was at $91.18 and I bought it with a grin.
Why was I confident about Apple when so many people were fearful? They had over 1 Billion (Billion with a B) in cash reserves to use however they want. They could buy a company or invest in a new market, that much capital gave them so many possibilities, like invest in car ride sharing, driverless cars or new technology, and they did all of those! Plus have you ever met someone who owns an iPhone? They treat it like fat kids treat cake.
I told myself I would sell at $116, and when it moved up to that level in December 6 months later, I sold at $116.32. That’s a nice 27% profit, I’ll take that. Plus the $0.57 cents I earned in dividends. Currently Apple is around $141.42 but I can’t worry about that, you have to set goals, follow them and don’t look back.
Verizon Communication (VZ)
Verizon is one of my favorites because I’ve been to a Verizon store and any store that regularly has customers standing in line for 45 min, is worth noticing. People hate switching carriers, so they’ll deal with a number of issues before they go to AT&T, Sprint or Tmobile.
Since May, I bought 5 more shares of Verizon because it’s dipped below $50. So mainly this was bringing my average share cost down. The more shares I buy during this dip, the higher my profits will be when it goes back up. Remember when everyone else is cautious, that’s the time to buy. As long as the company is well established, in my opinion.
I’ll keep buying Verizon shares whenever I can, but they currently make up 15.9% of my portfolio, so I’ll look at some other companies before I buy anymore to diversify. I just really love their 4.60% dividend! Just last February, I earned $13.28 in dividends for holding this stock.
Procter & Gamble (PG)
This company makes recognizable consumer stables like Bounty Paper Towels, Charmin toilet paper, Crest Toothpaste, Dawn dish soap, Downy fabric sheets, Febreze and so many more! These are household items that people buy over and over again because people NEED them and they’re brands people trust.
Personally I’ve used all these products and I’ve never had a reason to use anything else. This is one of my biggest reasons for continuing to own this stock.
I’ve bought 4 shares since May, all when the price was around $82. Now the stock is up to $90 per share. Plus, Procter & Gamble has paid me over $20.10 in dividends for just holding the stock since May. Anytime this stock dips in price, I’ll be there to buy more.
Wells Fargo (WFC)
Oh Wells Fargo, you continue to disappoint people with scandals and I’m there to pick up your stock. I was sad to hear about the scandal because it took a massive dive to my stock price but I kept two things in mind. Fed Rates were going to rise and people hate switching banks, so I bought up shares like they were a new iPhone on Black Friday.
In total, I bought 9 shares. These shares ranged from $50.17 to $45.41. Currently the price has shot up to $55.33 and continue to produce dividends. Since May I have received $26.22 in dividends.
I’m really happy about this one because I knew fed rates would rise, increasing this stock’s value while everyone else concentrated on their scandals. People have short term memories and in this case, it paid off.
Iron Mountain Incorporated (IRM)
This REIT isn’t a well-known company, Iron Mountain is a REIT who provides physical and digital storage across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
I like this company for two reasons. One, they provide physical document storage for companies across 1,400 facilities in the world. I’ve seen Storage Wars, I know people will pay to store things forever to calm any fear of losing something permanently. Second, I like this company for their growing digital storage capabilities. Cloud computing and cloud storage is HUGE, it’s quickly becoming Amazon’s largest revenue source. Iron Mountain leases a lot of these facilities. I like investing in companies like this that house the data centers.
Since May, I’ve picked up 9 shares at an average of $36.80 and the stock is currently at $35. I’m currently under on this stock but I believe it’ll raise back up. Plus in the meantime it produces a 6.31% dividend. So since May I’ve gained $19.90 in dividends.
HCP Inc. (HCP)
I’m always on the fence about HCP. What I like about it, is it’s a REIT that focuses on healthcare facilities like senior housing, medical office buildings and skilled nursing. I like this because baby boomers are starting to move into senior housing and medical office buildings are for outpatient services, which have grown tremendously in recent years.
My concern though, is HCP the best Healthcare REIT I can own? HCP has been doing a lot of house cleaning lately. HCR ManorCare, which did their post-acute/skilled nursing facilities has been facing challenges, so they spun them off into a new REIT called QCP (Quality Care Properties). It was a smart move because they were a high risk healthcare component to their portfolio.
In addition, they sold off over 64 properties that were leased to Brookdale Senior Living facilities because Brookdale made up over 35% of their healthcare portfolio, it’s now reduced to 27%. Plus Brookdale has had some major legal issues in the past that I’d prefer to distance myself from.
Because the last year was a little shaky for them and their stock has been cheap at around $29.85, I bought 11 shares. Now the stock stands at $30.49 with a 4.91% dividend that’s provided $27.91 since May. I’m still figuring out what I’m going to do with these guys.
Since May, These Stock Dividends have earned $107.98 in Passive Income
The Wallet Squirrel way is to side hustle & invest that extra income to make passive income with dividend stocks!
I put every dollar I earn side hustling into my stock portfolio of dividend stocks to earn passive income in the form of dividends. I think this is one of the purest forms of passive income and it proves itself. These stocks alone earned me $244.32 in dividends since May. That is money I didn’t do anything to earn, no effort whatsoever.
Did you buy any of these stocks recently?
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
Hi, Wallet Squirrel — those are great stock buys! Thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work. Over time, you’ll see how those dividends just keep on growing.
Take care and happy investing!
Thanks FerdiS!
I have been loving dividend investing, it’s great to see around $23 in dividends show up in my portfolio every month. Hopefully I can pick up some extra cash to invest more soon. Thanks for stopping by!
-Andrew
I’ve bought Verizon in just the past couple weeks. Other recent buys (last several months) are Walmart, Amgen, Main St. Capital, Saratoga Investment Corp (not a dividend stock), and Coca-Cola. I already owned HCP, but don’t plan on picking up any new shares at this point; I got my QCP shares from the ManorCare deal and they haven’t been performing.
At this point, I’m all about investing in new positions with both good value AND growth, as I have implemented a strict “only cost average down” on the stocks I already own. This bull market can’t last forever.
Hey Mike!
I ended up selling my QCP shares right away as they didn’t fit my dividend stock requirements. I’m glad I did though because I agree, they haven’t been performing.
Yay Verizon! Interesting with Walmart. Then again, they have been making some nice headlines lately, I really hope that one serves you well. You can’t really beat their brick and mortar store locations.
That’s honestly a great idea and one I’ve been focusing on lately, investing in companies I’m already familiar with. It saves time researching and you know they’re solid companies if you’ve done you research.
It should be interesting to see how the bull market will go because it grew when corporate taxes talked about being slashed, they dipped heavily when the healthcare legislation failed and now they’re back on the rise now that business growth is the main focus of this administration. It’s something I’ve been following heavily. Good luck to us both and I like your positions. =)
-Andrew