* Dividend Income Progress Update - February 2011

Once again it is time for a goals/progress update. I am pleased to report that annualized dividend income increased in February, extending the streak to 8 consecutive months of increases after June 2010's decline. Since I began publicly tracking annualized dividend income in November 2007, it has increased in 37 of the last 39 months.

My goals were defined in this December 1, 2007 Investing Goals post and updated in my 2011 Investing Goals post. Below is an updated version of the table found in the original post.

Description	Dividend Income Annualized	Yield on Cost
2027 Goal	110,000	10.00%
2017 Goal	30,000	5.80%
2011 Goal	15,500	4.70%
December/2010	11,407	4.55%
Purchases YTD	1,102	-0.10%
Div. Changes YTD	67	0.03%
Sales YTD	(387)	0.02%
February/2011	12,189	4.50%
Purchases	668	-0.05%
Div. Changes	25	0.01%
Sales	(285)	-0.02%
January/2011	11,781	4.56%

The above information covers the current month and year-to-date through the current month.

Click here for a Detailed Historical Progress Table.

For the month, annualized dividend income increased $408, and Yield on Cost (YOC) was down -0.06%. This month's changes were a net of new purchases, dividend changes and sales. Let's examine each of the these categories:

Purchases: The $668 increase in annual dividend income and -0.05% decrease in YOC related to the following purchases (yield at the time of purchase):

• $51 Cincinnati Financial Corp. (CINF) 4.84%
• $30 Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) 2.79%
• $165 McDonald's Corp. (MCD) 3.31%
• $307 CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL) 6.52%
• $115 Owens & Minor Inc. (OMI) 2.61%

CINF and CTL raised my YOC, while all of the other stocks lowered it. As noted in earlier updates, I generally expect YOC to drop in most months since new investments will yield less than my current YOC, and dividend increases will not be sufficient to offset the decline.

Dividend Changes: The $25 increase in annual dividend income and the 0.01% increase in YOC related to the following dividend changes (a=dividend stated in annual terms, q=quarterly, m=monthly):

• $17 AT&T, Inc. (T) $0.42q>$0.43q
• $1 Nucor Corporation (NUE) $0.36q>$0.3625q
• $7 HCP, Inc. (HCP) $0.46q>$0.48q

Sales: The $102 decrease in annual dividend income and the 0.04% increase in YOC related to the following sale:

• ($178) Progress Energy Inc. (PGN)
• ($107) Emerson Electric Co. (EMR)

I liquidated PGN since it failed to raise its dividend in 2010. As a result of significant price appreciation and a negative NPV MMA Diff., I sold 55% of my EMR holdings in February.

After February, I am still on track to reach my goal of $15,500 in annualized dividend income by December 31, 2011.

That's it for this time. The next monthly progress update will be early April.

(Photo: sanja gjenero)