As you know by now I make a stock purchase every single month no matter what is going on in the world and despite the doom and gloom headlines. Perhaps I am naive or more of an optimist that we will get through these dark financial times somehow. Either way, I have been busy buying up some stock this month and was happy to put some fresh and recycled capital to work to try and recoup some of my lost dividend income courtesy of the numerous cuts bestowed upon my portfolio in recent years (thanks VFC). I know the only thing in my power is to dollar cost average into my positions buying at near all time highs while also buying during big time swoons and staying diversified to mitigate those dividend cuts we have all become familiar with. With that being said, and sticking to my February 2023 Stock Considerations somewhat, I continued to nibble and add to my portfolio as well as sell a couple stock spin offs:
| Date | Action | Symbol | Description | Quantity | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/07/2023 | Buy | VZ | VERIZON COMMUNICATN | 12.3834 | -$500.00 |
| 02/08/2023 | Buy | VZ | VERIZON COMMUNICATN | 7.3989 | -$300.00 |
| 02/08/2023 | Buy | T | A T & T INC | 15.6523 | -$300.00 |
| 02/09/2023 | Buy | VZ | VERIZON COMMUNICATN | 9.0142 | -$360.66 |
| 02/09/2023 | Buy | T | A T & T INC | 18.9861 | -$360.67 |
| 02/09/2023 | Buy | VFC | VF CORP | 13.705 | -$360.67 |
| 02/23/2023 | Buy | LYB | LYONDELLBASELL INDS | 3.33 | -$316.49 |
| 02/23/2023 | Buy | VZ | VERIZON COMMUNICATN | 8.1793 | -$316.50 |
| 02/23/2023 | Sell | HLN | HALEON PLC | 45 | $363.38 |
| 02/23/2023 | Sell | GEHC | GE HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGI | 31 | $2,355.08 |
As you can see, there are two notable trades that are not buys this month as I decided to shuttle Haleon plc (HLN) and GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. (GEHC). I have enough dog spin offs that lose value and pay no dividends. Time to free up some cash and put it to work elsewhere. Frankly, I’m sick of all these spin offs. When I first started investing, spin offs were quite rare. Today, it seems that every company is engaged in accounting trickery fooling shareholders with crap spin offs that only disguise real dividend cuts. Rarely does a spin off these days equate to a solid real world standalone company. Over the years AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) has proven itself but those high flying spin off winners are becoming exceedingly rare. Sells are quite rare for me but as a dividend and income focused investor I need to get my cash working for me instead of relying solely on capital appreciation.
In all, I put about $2,700 of capital to work this month. It’s been a while since I put that much cash to work as I was building up cash reserves for several months towards the end of last year. What stocks are you buying In February? Please let me know below.
Disclosure: Long all above except HLN and GEHC
I sold HLN a couple weeks before you did for the exact same reasons but the thing that really irked me I was charged a small fee for HLN in my fidelity account back on 1/10. I have no explanation as to why as they did not pay a dividend or a stock split and the amount was small enough I didn’t feel like wasting my time finding out the reason why. This was enough motivation to finally dump it in mid Feb.
Hi SDG,
Like you, I also had that BS “ADR Mgmt Fee” line item in my account. I know that fee is common for all ADRs as I own several in my portfolio but for a stock that just sits there and doesn’t even produce income. Outrageous. Geez. Charge me to simply own a stock!?! As I mentioned in the post, I’m a little sick of all these spin offs. I have sold many along the way while keeping a handful. I got rid of that T garbage spin off WBD not long ago as well. Really, it’s not about “increasing shareholder value” rather how can we cut our dividend without actually cutting it. Thanks for commenting.
As for a stock I prefer Vz over T but I find At&T the better budget buy and have doubled down on doubling my position versus Verizon. Pretty much when I seen the news that At&T had his its lowest price since 1991 I bought more of it. It’s been around a long time and has historically been a good dividend paying stock. I think both Vz and T will have good upside long term from here but T has more upside potential. I focus heavily on things I actually buy and where I spend my money. Service wise I don’t like At&T for plans and been with Verizon for 12 or so years now I believe. More and more seniors are getting cell phones and smart phones I think the big players in cellular service are going to continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Getting T stock for under $15 per share is a steal in my opinion.
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Hi SG,
Both and T and VZ have been real stinkers so far in 2023. Of course, there comes a point when a stock becomes “too cheap” and that’s when it’s a good time to average in. I have been slowly adding to my UGI in recent months. That’s another stock facing some tough times so far this year.