I just couldn’t help myself.  I sold a put last Thursday (mentioned here) and I will be happy however that trade turns out.  However, if NSC has a big run-up then I will miss out on owning additional shares.

So this morning I transferred a little cash from my options account to my DG portfolio and bought 30 more shares at $65.89/share.  This brings my total to about 63 shares and reduces my cost/share to $67.08.  This also increases my yearly dividend income by $60 and gets me closer to the $2400/year in forward dividends I am shooting for by the end of the year.

NSC is now my 2nd largest holding behind WM.

I had initially planned on holding off on any purchases this month due to a planned vacation and some expenses.  It just so happened that a planned expense for the month is being put off for another month so I had a little extra cash burning a hole in my pocket.

I was close to purchasing CAT back in 2009 for around $40/share and regret that decision ever since.   CAT has had a huge run and record earnings since then and I’ve just watched as CAT reached a high of around $120/share in 2011.  The shares have come back down to earth and I believe will be a nice addition to my portfolio.

I purchased 21 shares @ $92.37/share this morning.  The shares currently yield 2.25%.  This purchase will add an additional $43.68 to my yearly dividend income.

Caterpillar has increased its dividend for 19 straight years.  It has a 5-year CAGR of 10.4% and a P/E of 10.4 and according to E*Trade have a low payout ratio of only 20.24%.  

From E*Trade:

Caterpillar Inc. (Caterpillar) is a manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. It operates in two segments: Machinery and Power Systems, and Financial Products. Machinery and Power Systems represents a total of Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Power Systems and All Other segments and related corporate items and eliminations. Financial Products includes the Company’s Financial Products Segment. This category includes Cat Financial, Caterpillar Insurance Holdings Inc. and their respective subsidiaries. In October 2011, the Company acquired MWM Holding GmbH (MWM). Effective March 1, 2012, the Company announced that Caterpillar Japan Ltd. (Caterpillar Japan) acquired Caterpillar Tohoku Ltd. (Cat Tohoku). In August 2012, Platinum Equity, LLC. acquired a majority interest in Caterpillar Logistics Services. Caterpillar will retain a 35% equity stake in the business.

I couldn’t resist those delicious Big Mac’s!  McDonald’s is 14% off of its high and only $4 off of its 1-year low set last fall.  I bought 22 shares this morning @ $87.80/share.

This is my first purchase of MCD and I’m sure it won’t be the last.  MCD is currently yielding 3.2% and is due for a dividend increase for the December payment.  If they increase the dividend by the same amount as last year, .09, I will have a YOC of 3.6%.  Since the Ex-Diviend date is 08/30, I will also be receiving the September dividend payment.

McDonald’s is a company I believe will still be here in 30 years and I can rest well at night holding their shares.  They are also a Dividend Champion, having raised their dividend each year for 35 consecutive years.

I originally purchased 50 shares back at the end of March at 22.53/share and decided to buy 105 shares this morning on weakness @ 18.85/share.  These additional 105 shares will provide another 78.75 per year in dividends.  I’ve also reduced my cost per share now to $20 and YOC to 3.7%.

TWGP announced plans to acquire Canopius which the market did not like.  Shares were down 15%.  I still believe in this company longterm and believe they will continue to raise their dividends each year which is what I really care about.

I purchased 56 shares of Waste Management (WM) today on weakness at $31.64 per share.  It’s already a holding of mine and I haven’t added to it for about a year.  This weakness presented a decent opportunity to grab it with a yield of about 4.5%.  This purchase provides an additional yearly income of $79.52.

I initiated a position of 17 shares of Chevron purchased at $103/share.  My YOC is right at 3.5%. My yearly dividend income will increase by $61.20. Chevron has increased it’s dividend for 25 straight years. 

I’ve been watching Chevron for a couple of weeks, I should have bought yesterday on weakness but went ahead and pulled the trigger this morning.   This purchase of CVX should compliment my shares of COP and I’d like to keep both equally weighted going forward. 

Overview:

Chevron Corporation (Chevron) manages its investments in subsidiaries and affiliates and provides administrative, financial, management and technology support to the United States and international subsidiaries that engage in petroleum operations, chemicals operations, mining operations, power generation and energy services. Upstream operations consist primarily of exploring for, developing and producing crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transporting crude oil by international oil export pipelines; transporting, storage and marketing of natural gas; and a gas-to-liquids project. Downstream operations consist primarily of refining crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products; transporting crude oil by pipeline, motor equipment and rail car, and manufacturing and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses and fuel and lubricant additives.

Clorox reported earnings today of $1.02 which missed by .02 so I decided to buy 20 additional shares on weakness @ 67.41/share.

CLX is a core holding of mine and the company will be around for many years.  They have raised their dividend for 35 years consecutively.  They have a 5-year CAGR of 15.22% and let’s not forget that Carl Icahn offered up to $80/share for the company last year.

I purchased 40 shares of COP.WI @ $55.66/share this morning.

As many of you know, ConocoPhillips plans to separate their refining business from their upstream oil exploration and production business at the end of the month.  Phillips 66 (currently priced as PSX.WI) will become a separate publicly traded refining business with ticker PSX.  For every 2 shares of COP held, you will receive 1 share of PSX.  COP also plans to payout 20-25% of their Operating Cash Flow (OCF) as a dividend which I believe would keep their existing dividend of 2.64, giving it a YOC of about 4.7% at today’s price.  There’s a good article here on Seeking Alpha.

I hold 30 shares of COP today so I will receive 15 shares of PSX.  My plans are to sell the PSX shares which will be yielding just a little over 2%.  I will keep the new COP along with the 40 shares I purchased today for a total of 70 shares.

Investors have 3 options for playing COP right now.  You can buy COP pre-split with the normal ticker, you can buy shares of the new COP (COP.WI) or you can buy shares of the new Phillips 66 (PSX.WI).